I Didn't Mean To Come Here
by TiPoLover 22
Summary: In his mind, he lived in a world full of vikings and dragons and discovering! It was his own world where the people of reality didn't exist... ...Until they did.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so it's been a few years since I've posted anything on FF and this is my first How To Train Your Dragon fanfic. I hope you all like it so far.**

* * *

Dragons. They've occupied his mind for as long as he could remember. He'd been fascinated with them since he could open his eyes, had been drawing them since he could hold a pencil, had been studying them since he could read. His whole life was about dragons!

Most people considered people like that geeks, so he was often the target of a lot of torment. But Henry "Hiccup" Haddock didn't really care about those people. He was living in his own world, where those people didn't exist…

… Until they did.

That world was full of vikings and dragons and discovering. In that world, things got better with his dad. In that world, he became a hero. In that world, he had an amazing warrior of a girlfriend.

Which was who he was painting now.

She was beautiful, but, for some reason, he felt like that wasn't the reason he loved her. He felt like he envied her before he loved her. At least, that's what his dreams tell him.

She had beautiful, long blonde hair that she kept in a braid on her side. She had striking blue eyes that would shine when she smiled. Oh, her smile! She had a beautiful smile and sometimes it would turn into a smirk. He found himself smiling, just thinking about it, thinking about her. In all his dreams, he had called her Astrid, and that's what he would call this piece when he finished it.

"-enry. Henry!"

He finally snapped his eyes away from his painting and towards his art teacher. "Yes, Ms." Ms. Gerund was the only teacher that called him by his real name.

"The bell rang," she informed.

Henry shrugged. "Its just lunch." Ms. Gerund was a new art teacher and still wasn't used to him staying during lunch. Not like Ms. Gothi, who retired last year.

"I figured you'd like to eat sometime," she said.

And he could understand her worry. He was as thin as a fishbone. At least that's what his father told him. Or was that just a dream? "I'm not hungry, I just wanna finish this." He wasn't sure what Ms. was thinking, but, as a new teacher, she was probably hoping to spend her lunches alone. It was only 3 weeks into the school year and he had spent every single one of them here, trying to finish this painting.

Ms. Gerund silently sighed. So much for a lunch alone. Again. "Let me see how its coming out," she suggested. She walked around and stood behind him. He heard a gasp almost immediately. "Its-its-"

"Finished," he interrupted as he painted one last golden strip of hair. And there she was.

"Who is she," Ms. Gerund asked, finally finding words.

"Astrid," Hiccup breathed out, a lovesick expression on his face.

"Does she go to this school?! She's going to love this!"

Here came the hard part of his paintings, explaining that these people weren't real. "The only way she'd be able to come to this school is if she popped out from my imagination," he explained. "She isn't real."

Ms. Gerund sighed. "Well, did you know that you can't just create a face in your mind? Your brain remembers every single face you see even if you can't. So there's a good chance she's real."

"I'm pretty extra sure that she's not."

She opened her mouth and,to Hiccup, it looked like she was about to give him some life advice until she was interrupted by two boys barging into her classroom. One had beefy arms and black hair, the other had beefy… everything and had blonde hair. The brunette happened to be his cousin, Scott "Snotlout" Jorgenson and the blonde was none other than his best friend Fin "Fishlegs" Ingerman.

"I told you he'd be in here," Fishlegs said with a smug smile.

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Whatever! Hiccup," he yelled, turning to him. "Watta you doing here, its Pep Rally Schedule, tomorrow's the homecoming game! You gotta make me look like I got more spirit then the rest of those losers on the team!"

"Hey, I'm one of those losers," Fishlegs smacked Snotlout's arm, offended.

It was Snotlout's turn to look smug. "Exactly."

"Oh, dear," Ms. Gerund muttered. Why did she choose to be a high school teacher? She turned back to Henry, smiling at his painting. Oh, yes, that's why? "Well, Henry-"

"Hiccup," he interrupted. "Everyone calls me Hiccup."

"Well, Hiccup," she tried, sounding like she was trying out the word for the first time. It really didn't matter how weird it sounded to other people, to him it sounded… right. "This is such a lovely painting, you don't mind if I put it up?"

"Not at all," he confirmed. Gothi had done the same thing with his other paintings.

"What painting," Snotlout asked, coming up behind Hiccup. "Odin's beard! She's hot!"

Hiccup wasn't sure why he felt a tinge of jealousy over a girl that wasn't even real. "C'mon, Snotlout," Hiccup said, getting up and taking off his apron. "Let's go and get you all pepped up."

"All right, but seriously, who is that?"

"Astrid," he answered, nonchalantly, exiting the room.

Snotlout ran after him, laughing his head off. "Astrid? You're badass wife you've been dreaming about since you were five?! You know a girl like that would never go for you, right? Girl's like a man with muscle," he said as he flexed.

If Hiccup were honest with himself, he would tell himself that he had known Snotlout would be annoying before he even met him. Just like he had known Fishlegs would be smart and shy instead of a bully. But he wasn't honest with these things in fear that someone might think he's going mad. "It doesn't matter, snotlout, she's not real."

"Actually," Fishlegs budded in, "scientist have discovered that your brain-"

"Recognizes faces that you don't," Hiccup interrupted. "Yes, I know, but, trust me, she isn't real."

"And how do you know that?"

"Gee, I don't know, Fishlegs, maybe it's because I've never left this city and would've known if she lived here."

Fishlegs rolled his eyes. "Hiccup's right," Snotlout said, surprising them both. Snotlout didn't usually agree with Hiccup. "No one would forget a face like that," he explained, a smug grin on his face.

Again, that tinge of jealousy. He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Snotlout."

* * *

Hiccup went straight for his motorcycle the second his teacher let them out for the pep rally. He wasn't really a pep rally guy. He felt like once he might've been, could've been. But that felt so long ago, too long ago. Now, he just hid on the seat of his motorcycle.

When his dad had offered to buy him a car, Hiccup had refused. He and his dad's best friend, Gobber, had been fixing up this motorcycle since Hiccup had shown an interest in engineering. When they finally got it done, Gobber just gave it to him. Hiccup was ecstatic when he first got to ride it. He couldn't understand the feeling he had, it felt familiar, the way the way the wind would blow through his hair as he rode. When he was riding, he didn't even feel the cold, he just felt… free.

Pulling up on the driveway, he noticed that his dad's car was there, meaning his dad was finally home for once. Not that it made a difference, his home would still be as silent as if he weren't there. He and his dad has never had a good relationship. Well, maybe they did once, but that was before his mother divorced him.

He entered the house and stared at the empty walls. Once they were filled with happy family photos, but that was also before the divorce. Lots of things were before the divorce.

When his dad was young, he had met his mother. It was the classic highschool sweethearts dealio. Years later, they came to America for better opportunities. They saw how corrupt this city was and did everything in their power to make things right. It wasn't long before his dad was elected mayor and he fixed up the town to his liking. All in the middle of that, Hiccup was born. He was their dream come true. That was until his dad saw how much more interested he was in literally everything but sports. Hiccup didn't like running, he hated both kinds of football, he couldn't swing a bat, couldn't stand rugby, and he couldn't lift weights. Hiccup just wasn't an athlete. He was everything else. But his dad just didn't see that.

Then came the court sessions and all the confusion. Though his mom tried, she didn't win. She got a few custody weeks during the year.

All the years they had been together and they never noticed how different they were from each other until they both had different futures planned for their only son.

Crappy, wasn't it.

But, it didn't matter. I didn't matter then, it didn't matter yesterday, it didn't even matter _now_ as he was looking through the fridge for something to eat.

"You're home early," his dad said as he entered the kitchen.

Hiccup took out a plate of chicken. "I thought you'd still be at City Hall."

"I finished up paper work earlier than I expected," he explained.

Hiccup nodded. "There was a pep rally," Hiccup explained as well.

After that small exchange, the house went awkwardly silent again. It had been that way for years.

 _Riiiiing_!

Hiccup gladly welcomed the distraction as he brought out his phone. The screen said "Mom" and he couldn't help but smile. That dropped when he glanced at his dad's expecting expression. "A phone call," he explained.

"Ah, yes," he said, nervously.

"Gotta- gotta take it," he explained, nervously.

"Of course, of course," his dad said, backing off.

"So, uh, yeah," Hiccup said before hastily running out of the kitchen and up the stairs, where he answered the phone just before it would go to voicemail. "Hi, mom," he answered, excitedly. And how could he not?! He only ever saw her a few times a year, and he got even less calls.

"Hiccup," she answered just as excitedly. "How's your day been, hon?" It was refreshing to hear her voice.

"It's been great! I'm almost done with that one prototype I told you about. Just gotta fix a few issues and it'll be done."

"That's wonderful, Hiccup!"

"I know! And I aced the math quiz today. Lunch was a little crappy, but I'm managing."

"What time is it?"

"It's, uh," he checked his screen. "Its almost 4:30."

"Oh no!" Valka cried. "I didn't call you during school again, did I?"

"Oh, no, no! There was a pep rally, I just came home early!"

Valka sighed in relief. "That's good. Are there any new art pieces to show me?"

Hiccup smiled brightly. "Yes, mom, you need to see it! It's my best one yet! I love it so much! Every stroke compliments her… Everything! I-I don't know how to explain it, mom, I'll just text you a pic when we're done." He let out a laugh. "So, uh, how has your day been?"

"It's going great, Hiccup. I just got to Brazil, Peace Corp.'s got us building houses. I'll be building in an area where there's no signal, so I wanted to call you before I go."

"Oh," Hiccup let out. "How long?"

"A month, maybe two. But I'll be sure to drive into town for some signal. Give you a call."

"Yeah, OK." He wasn't going to get his hopes up, those were empty promises.

"And after that, I'm coming to see you."

"Really?!" He yelled, his hopes immediately going up.

"Yes, I'll be staying at a motel for a week until Peace tells us what to do next. It'll be a fun little week for us, you know? I'll pick you up from school, we'll go to an arcade or see a show at one of the theaters. Maybe I'll even visit you _at_ school! Does that sound nice?"

Hiccup nodded even though she couldn't see him. "It does, mom, It really does!"

"Alright, Hiccup, well, I'm...have...go."

"What?"

"I'll...you...a…"

"Mom, mom! You're breaking up!"

"Love you!" Were the last words before the phone completely disconnected.

Hiccup sighed before turning off his phone screen. He hated how a smile slowly crept on his face. Though his heart was telling him two months, his mind was telling him to be rational. His mom never really kept her promises, but the times she did were always fantastic. Once, in 6th grade, she had promised to call him the next week, but that never happened. A month later, though, his dad had brought a new computer saying it had a surprise. When Hiccup turned on the screen, his mother's face was right there, smiling. They had talked for hours until it was time for him to go to bed. Now, though, she doesn't have much time to video chat. He wished she did, he just wanted to see her.

His heart told him that he would and he decided to give his brain a break and finally go get something to eat. He had left a plate of chicken downstairs and lunch really was crappy. His stomach made a noise and he took that as a sign to go and eat that chicken.

When he made it to the kitchen, he found the plate had already been microwaved and looking through the kitchen window, his dad's car was nowhere to be seen.

He guessed it was just as well, he probably heard who he was talking to in this silent house. And in this silent house, his ringtone sounded ten times louder.

He looked at the screen and sighed before answering the phone. "What did you do?"

"What," Snotlout sounded offended over the phone. "Why is it that when I call you, you think I did something?"

"Did you?"

"No!"

' _Huh_ ,' Hiccup thought. ' _I was sure he had done something_.' "Then why are you calling?"

"Your painting, dude! People are loving it!"

"Ms. Gerund put it up already?"

"Yeah, dude! Everyone was wondering who it was and some wanted you to do them next!" Hiccup rolled his eyes, people always asked him that. "But I straightened everything out for you, bro, don't worry."

Hiccup furrowed his brows. "What does that mean?"

"I told everyone about the dream thing so they didn't think it was someone's portrait," he explained proudly. "Now people know you can't paint actual faces and they'll leave you alone! Problem solved!"

Hiccup internally sighed. He knew Snotlout meant well, but sometimes he could be such an idiot. "Thank you very much, Snotlout."

"Ay! No problem, man! Always here to help!" He laughed. "Can you believe people thought she was real, though?! Imagine that!"

Hiccup let out a mirthless chuckle. "Yeah, imagine that."

* * *

She pulled the last of her luggage out of the car and sighed in relief. "That's the last of it!" She yelled to her mom.

"Thank you, Astrid," a beautiful, blonde woman said, coming out of the house. She smiled down at her daughter and Astrid's anger couldn't help but flare when she saw the black eye. Her mom deserved so much better than that asshole and Astrid was happy that, for once, her mom agreed.

And that's why they were here, moving into a nice apartment. Both she and her best friend had decided to leave their deadbeat boyfriends and move far away from their old lives. Everything worked well for Astrid because her mom's best friend just so happened to be the mom of her own best friends, Surly and Kevin Thortson. Or, as they liked to call themselves, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. But they wouldn't be there for another few days because their mom got the date of the tickets wrong.

Her train of thought pulled to a halt as her mom brought her into a hug. "This is going to be a good thing for us." She pulled away from the hug and smiled. "You're uncle told me he would help with rent until I got back on my feet. Right now, we only have what you're grandpa left me. I'll have to use that sparingly, so expect a whole lot of takeout."

Astrid laughed. "You and I both know you don't cook, period."

Her mom only smiled at her before looking around the apartment complex. "Why don't you go look around, see if anyone your age lives here?"

"Mom, Ruffnut and Tuffnut are coming in a few days," she explained, trying to carry the luggage in the apartment. "I don't need new friends. We'll figure this place out together."

Her mom snatched the luggage from her hand and laughed as she went inside first, closing the door behind her. Astrid stood there for a second, confused. Then she hard a click and she rushed to the door, trying to open it. "Mom! C'mon!"

"Be back in an hour with a friend, and maybe I'll let you in," her muffled voice came from the door.

"Seriously?!" Astrid stood there for a moment, hoping she would change her mind. She sighed when she knew that she wouldn't and started walking away from the door. She was ten feet away when she heard it open. She flipped around with hope in her eyes only to be tackled down. "Ugh, Stormfly," she yelled, pushing her service dog off of her. She glared in her mom's direction only to find the door already closed. She rolled her eyes as she stood up and checked if Stormfly actually had her vest on. It made people feel more comfortable around her, her being a service dog instead of a "dangerous" pitbull. She dusted herself off before waving forward. "C'mon, girl, let's go find someone to talk to." Stormfly followed her happily.

Astrid hadn't had an episode in years, but she kept the vest on Stormfly, anyway. The doctors had told her mom that it was some form of PTSD, which still confused Astrid to this day. She had never had any traumatic experiences before. It was Stormfly that got herself promoted from house dog to service dog because, somehow, she just new Astrid was about to have an episode. The doctors agreed and pulled a few strings to get Stormfly a vest. It was happily ever after for her and Stormfly after that.

She got a treat from her pocket and fed it to the blue and white beauty. Technically gray, but at certain angles her fur looked blue.

"So, where should we go," Astrid asked the dog. She looked around, finding absolutely no one around. There probably were kids her age here, but they were all probably inside on their phones. She could probably use her phone to search up a dog park. "Should we go to the dog park," she asked Stormfly. The dog barked in response and she took that as a yes. She chuckled as she brought her phone out of her pocket…

And then bumped into someone. "I'm so sorry," she said as the other person said, "Oh, excuse me!"

When Astrid looked up at her, she felt...intimidated. Compared to Astrid's 5'4, this girl seemed exactly 6 feet. She had short, blonde hair, a strong jaw, and beautiful, green eyes. She stood up, back straight, and looking like she knew what she was doing. The girl gave her a look. "You look very familiar. Do I know you?"

Astrid shook her head. "I doubt it, I just moved into these apartments."

"Ah," the girl let out, smiling. "These apartments are wonderful, I can guarantee it. We actually care for our tenants here."

Astrid raised a brow. "And you are?..."

Her small smile didn't falter. "I am Mala Queen, my parents own these apartments."

Astrid wasn't sure what to say to that. "I'm Astrid Hofferson," she introduced, holding out a hand.

"Astrid," Mala drew out. "Why do I feel like I've heard that name before?" She muttered to herself. She took Astrid's hand with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Astrid. Is this your dog," she asked, gesturing to Stormfly.

"Yeah! You can pet her if you want."

Mala shook her head and Astrid prepared herself to defend her dog. She didn't need to, though. "I have no desire of distracting an animal on duty. She must be aware of you at all times."

Astrid smiled. She already loved this girl. "I'm so happy you think that way! It took forever to find apartments that would take in a pitbull."

"My family loves all animals. I have a pitbull as well! Her name is Great Protector since she guards our home." She smiled at Stormfly. "May I ask what her job is?"

"Oh! She warns anyone around when I'm about to have an episode, but I haven't had one in years."

"Will you be going to Edge High," Mala asked.

"Yeah," she drew out, slowly. "Are they gonna allow her there?"

"Oh, definitely. I'll even put in a good word for you! You seem like a very nice girl."

"Thanks!"

"Are you busy today?"

Astrid laughed. "Oh, you bet. I have a lot of unpacking to do and I have to figure out which side of the room's gonna be mine. Why?"

"I was hoping to give you some Edge High experience before Monday. The Homecoming game is today. I'll be going to support my king."

"You're king?"

Mala nodded. "My boyfriend and I have been Homecoming king and queen for the past two years. This year will make it the third."

"That is so sweet!"

"Yes, it is. My Snotlout is very loyal to me even though he could have any girl in school."

Astrid smiled at the girls lovestruck expression. "Hey, do you mind if we take a selfie? I need proof I interacted with someone so my mom will let me in the house."

"Of course," she said, posing for the picture.

Astrid took the selfie. "That should be enough evidence."

Mala giggled. "I hope to see you at school, Astrid. Until then," she waved goodbye before walking towards the office.

"See ya, Mala," Astrid called with a wave before she and Stormfly headed home.

"That should be enough evidence, right, girl?" Stormfly barked in response and Astrid laughed. This new life was already coming off to a good start.


	2. Chapter 2

Astrid woke up early on Monday. She would have to go to school alone until Ruff and Tuff came on Wednesday. Until then, she guessed she would try to seek Mala out and get to know her better.

Getting ready, Astrid took a second to look at herself. She wasn't gonna lie to herself and say she wasn't beautiful, because she was. She was her mother's daughter after all. But a face like this comes with a lot of problems. She even looked great with her hair all the way up to her shoulders, having cut it before she moved here. Sometimes she had the urge to put her hair in a braid, even before she had cut it, but then she would just go ahead and put it in a ponytail. It was faster.

She snatched herself away from the mirror's force and went to go put her shoes on. She had a lot more things to worry about today than what she looked like. She took a glance over at Stormfly, who was watching her every move with her beautiful, big hazel eyes. Hopefully people there weren't idiots. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but Mala had given her high standards.

She slung her backpack over her shoulders as she stood up. "Let's go, girl." Stormfly immediately stood up and was by her side in an instant. She grabbed two cans of dog food and a pop-tart from the cupboards and shoved them in her backpack before walking out the door.

Finding the school was easy. All she had to do was follow all the teenagers with backpacks. The school didn't look that big, there seemed to be only one floor from where she stood. But she recalled her research on the school and remembered that it had been built on a slope, so maybe it looked bigger from the other side.

Entering the school, she was hit with a nice wave of coolness. It was refreshing after that long walk here.

"Cool dog," someone yelled.

"Thanks," she yelled back. Those words got her mood up immediately. Maybe others will like Stormfly. "Ya hear that, girl? Someone thinks you're cool." Stormfly wagged her tail in response. Astrid smiled around at everyone, feeling amazing. Even the people staring at her like she'd grown a second head couldn't alter her happiness. She and her mother were away from that asshole, the apartment was great, she was closer to her uncle, she had made a new friend, and this school was turning out to be fine…

She noticed a bunch of Jocks staring at her.

...or not.

She felt her stomach drop when one of them actually started walking towards her. He was shorter than her, had black hair that was slicked back, and carried too much confidence for someone so short. He leaned against the wall in front of her. "Sup, babe, what's your name?" Astrid only stared at him. The guy took it as a chance to keep talking, though. "Speechless? I get that a lot. It takes a while to soak in all this handsomeness." She glared at him as he smiled at her. His smile seemed to falter just a bit as he got a good look at her. "You look familiar, do I know you?"

"I've never met you before," she finally spoke.

The guy laughed. "I'm pretty sure I've met you before. No one could forget a face like that." After saying that, his expression turned from one of seduction to one of surprise. "Holy shit! Astrid!"

It was Astrid's turn to be surprised. "How the hell do you know my name?! Stormfly!" Stormfly was immediately in front of her and growling at the guy.

He didn't seem to care, though. as he yelled, "Fishlegs! Get over here! This is crazy!"

"Fishlegs," Astrid muttered. Who the hell names someone Fishlegs? A huge, angry guy with blonde hair walked over and she was officially on her guard.

"What do you want, Snotlout, I was busy!"

"Look," the guy, Snotlout, pointed towards her.

The blonde's angry expression turned to one of delight as he yelled, "Oh, my gods! A dog!" He tried to pet her, but Stormfly growled even louder. The guy snatched his hand away from her. "A mean dog!"

The brunette rolled his eyes. "Not the dog, you idiot. The girl!"

Astrid was starting to feel very annoyed. "One of you better tell me what's going on here before I break a limb! And it won't be my own," she growled.

The blonde guy stared at her with wide, fearful eyes. "It's Astrid," the brunette whispered to him and his eyes went from fearful to surprised.

"We have to tell Hiccup!" The brunette agreed before they both ran off, leaving her completely confused.

"Come on, girl," she told Stormfly, waving forward. "Let's go find the office and get my schedule." She glanced in the direction the boys had left and scoffed. "Idiots." She'd probably keep her distance from those two. And that "Hiccup" person they'd mentioned. Girls already had enough going on without horny teenage boys stalking them online.

She brought out her phone and opened the facebook app. Just as she suspected, she didn't have any friend named Hiccup. Or Snotlout. Or Fishlegs. She shook her head as she went through the door that had "OFFICE" written in big, gold letters.

Her mood still hadn't brightened up even after finding out that she had softball first period. She glared at a small boy walking her way and trying to avoid her eyes. "Hey," she barked, causing him to jump. He kept glancing at Stormfly and she rolled her eyes. "What's your name, kid?"

"Uh, Gustav," he squeaked.

Astrid nodded. "Alright, Gustav. Do you know where the Gym is?"

He pointed a shaking finger behind him. "I-i-it's that way." There were double doors with "FINE ARTS" written above them in big, curly gold letters. "I-it's at the end of the hall," he explained.

Astrid nodded before patting his head. "Thanks, Gustav. Let's go Stormfly."

Entering the Fine Arts hall was like entering a whole other universe. From what she saw of the school, the walls were plain old brown and boring and full of useless photos of classes that wouldn't be remembered in the next few years. But here, the white walls all had something. There were display cases filled with trophies and art, the walls were painted with color and pictures of those who were actually important hung in beautiful frames. The floor wasn't perfectly pristine tile, it was all just one big floor full of cracks and stains and, as cheesy as it sounds, memories. There was a mural painted on one area of the wall that dated back to the 90's. There were even benches so that students could sit and enjoy the view. She was loving this hall!

She smiled as she kept on walking and admired the sculptures and paintings in the display cases. She went up to one painting that truly caught her eyes. The creature looked like a salamander mixed with a cat. The beautiful wings lead her to believe it was a dragon. Though it was a painting, she felt it's green eyes piercing through her, like it was staring into her soul. The scales on it's body looked so real she wanted to reach out and touch them. Glancing at the bottom, she found that the piece was called " _Toothless_ ", which she found odd because the painting showed the dragon baring its sharp teeth to anyone who looked. At the corner of the painting, she noticed that it was made three years ago, which was her freshman year. There was also a weird signature. It was four vertical lines connected by one horizontal line which curled different ways at each end.

She gave a nod of appreciation to the piece and started walking. Once again, another painting caught her eye. This time it was something she could pinpoint. It was an island. The island was full of arches and cliffs and a series of houses in weird positions. On one small tower, it looked like a dragon sat upon it. The trees and grass were a bright green, she could almost smell how fresh they were. And the water looked so real. None of that is what truly caught her eye, though. It was the two rocks that represented the entrance of the island. They both seemed to be carved into battle-ready vikings and their mouths were wide open, revealing fires inside. She didn't know why, but she liked this island. The painting, anyway. It made her feel… Happy? Complete? She didn't know, but the feeling made her feel at ease. Looking at the date, it was made the same year as the other one and by the same person. They called it " _The Isle of Berk_ ". This person was really talented.

Hoping to find more from them, she looked around at other display cases. Her smile immediately dropped when she noticed a specific painting. Walking over to it, she wondered who the hell she had to kill. The painting was of a girl with flawless skin and her eyes were as blue as the never ending sky. Her golden hair was put in a braid to the side. She wore armor on her shoulders and knees, and a skirt made of leather flaps with bolts on them. She wore gloves and boots so thick they made her legs and arms look like toothpicks and, yet, she was able to carry an Axe. And she wore the biggest and furriest hood in the history of big and furry hoods. Astrid might have been impressed if it weren't for the fact that she was staring at some crazy, bad ass version of _herself_.

This was a painting of her! Sure, she had never had her hair like that and she had never worn that outfit, but that was her! The smile, the eyes, the face! That was all her! And she knew for damn sure that she never authorized a painting of herself. This was done without her permission! She looked at the date and found it was made just a day before she came here. And by the same person! They called it " _Astrid_ ". She looked around, not really knowing why, but when she spotted Mala, she was glad she did. "Mala!"

Mala's head snapped away from the redhead she was talking to and towards her. She smiled as she and the guy walked over. "Astrid! It's great to see you! I hope you find the school to your liking so far."

Astrid let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, about that. Can you tell me who painted this?" She pointed to her own crazy portrait.

Mala looked surprised for a second before smiling. "My Snotlout wasn't wrong! You are Hiccup's dream girl!"

Snotlout? Wasn't that the guy that just hit on her? "Hiccup," She asked instead.

"Oh, you probably know him as Henry. Which website did you two meet on?"

Astrid had no clue what she was talking about, but she played along anyway. "Henry! Of course! Do you have any idea where I can find- Stormfly!" Astrid stared on in horror as her dog didn't listen to her for the first time ever. She chased after her.

* * *

"Would you guys stop," Hiccup yelled at his friends.

"But-," Snotlout started.

"Zip it! I don't care! I get that you guys are more playful after you win a game, but that doesn't mean you can torment me about my dreams!"

"But it's true," Fishlegs cried. "I saw her with my own eyes."

Hiccup just grew more angry. "How many times do I have to tell you guys, she doesn't exist! I have better things to do than listen to my best friends make fun of me! Especially you, Fishlegs!" He took a deep breath turning away from them. "Now, if you'll excuse me, some idiot nominated me for Student Body President and I have to go talk to the pricipa- Whoa!" Hiccup fell to the ground and could feel a wet tongue on his face. He kept his mouth closed tight as he tried to get the dog off of him. Why were dogs always tackling him down, he didn't even have a dog! Why did they like him so much?! He was finally able to pry the dog off of him with Fishlegs' help. He held up his hands to keep the dog at bay. "Hi, there…" He checked. "Girl. Where's your owner?" He put a hand on her head and she was suddenly putty in his hands. He noticed the service vest now that she was calmed down and checked her collar. The nametag said-

"Stormfly!"

Hiccup looked towards the direction the name came from and almost lost balance on his feet. The girl running over to him wore a red shirt and some blue jeans, and her hair was at the length of her shoulders, but there was no doubt about it. That was Astrid. He stood up and started fixing up his hair and dusting himself off. This couldn't be happening right now, she couldn't be real. But there she was, running towards him.

"I am so sorry," she apologized, grabbing the dog by the collar and pulling her away. "She doesn't usually do that."

"No, no, its fine," he assured. He let out a nervous chuckle. "Animals just naturally like me." And he had no idea why.

She smiled at him and he felt himself almost melt. He was so fixated on her, he didn't hear the whispering around them.

"Hiccup," Snotlout punched his arm in excitement. "That's her!"

"Gee, Snotlout, thanks for the observation." When he turned back to her, she was glaring.

"Did you make that painting of me," she asked, her voice low and menacing.

He wondered how she changed her mood so quickly. The anger shown clear as day on her face made him want to say no. But he went with truth instead and nodded. The next thing he knew, there was pain in his right wrist and he was being pushed to the ground. "Why would you do that," he wheezed out.

"That's for stalking me," the girl growled. Then she dropped her heavy backpack on his stomach. "And that's for everything else!"

Astrid wasn't aware that there was an audience until a giant hand grabbed her arm. Turning to the whale of a man didn't dissolve her into fear one bit. In fact, it only made her angry that she got caught. "Alright, Missy. Principal's office, now!" He pushed her behind him as he went to go help the stalker up with his one arm. She rolled her eyes as she let out a low whistle and Stormfly finally came over to her. "Fishlegs," the big man said. "Get Hiccup to the nurse's office."

"Yes, Mr. Belch."

Astrid tried to see what was going on behind her when she heard a few grunts, but "Mr. Belch" kept pushing her forward. She rolled her eyes and started walking faster to the office. A girl tries to protect herself and suddenly she's the bad guy.

* * *

Hiccup stared at his wrist as the nurse finished wrapping it up and left the room for who knows what. "I can't believe she broke my wrist."

"Fractured," Snotlout corrected.

"Why did she do that," Fishlegs questioned.

Hiccup shrugged. "She said something about stalking her." Snotlout laughed. "Glad you find my pain amusing, Scott."

"I'm not laughing at your wrist! Well I am, cause it's funny, ya know?" He saw the look Hiccup was giving him. "OK, so you don't know. But, what I'm really laughing at is that she's actually real. Just last week you were like, 'oh, she's not real'," he mimicked in the most horrible impression. "And now she is, man! You have a chance!"

"At what?! Dying?!"

"I'm serious!"

"So am I! She hates me! Look!" He held up his cast. "She broke my wrist!"

"Fractured," Fishlegs corrected.

"My point still stands." He glared at them both. "I don't care how similar they look, that girl is not my dream girl. Astrid would never break my wrist."

"Didn't you have a dream about her breaking your wrist," Fishlegs reminded.

"And her name actually is Astrid," Snotlout informed.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "My point is, I'm gonna stay away from her. I know I look calm, but I'm really freaking out right now."

"Me too," Fishlegs admitted. "Its Heather all over again."

Hiccup shook his head, denying it. "Heather was a coincidence."

"Yeah, and so was her being Oswald's daughter," Snotlout said, sarcasm leaking through every word.

"Hiccup, I've been reading some books on philosophy," Fishlegs said. "And some say that three times isn't a coincidence! Maybe your dreams tell the future!"

"I-I really doubt that, Fishlegs," Hiccup rejected. "My dreams are about vikings and dragons living together in peace on an island that doesn't even exist. I doubt dragons and an a new island are gonna magically appear!"

"Heather did."

"So did Astrid," Snotlout added.

Fishlegs gave Hiccup a look and he rolled his eyes. "Fine. I will test out this theory. In the near future, if anyone or anything from dreams happens to appear, then, I'll consider your theory of me telling the future."

"Deal," Snotlout yelled, holding out his hand. "If we lose, we'll pay for your stupid rocks. If we win, you gotta come to one of our games."

Hiccup took the hand. "Trust me, you guys are gonna lose."

"It comes in threes, Hiccup," Fishlegs reminded. "You sure?"

"Oh, I'm sure. Those rocks are expensive and I need more iron for a project."

They both have him a look. "For school or fun."

He only gave them a lopsided grin. "You know me."

Snotlout rolled his eyes with a smile. He looked at Hiccup's cast. "Hey, its a good thing she fractured your right wrist. Then you wouldn't've been able to draw."

Hiccup nodded staring at his perfectly good left hand. "Speaking of drawing, we just skipped almost all of first period. I'm just gonna head to the Art room."

"Alright," Snotlout said, getting up and stretching. He pulled his bag over his shoulder before lifting a fist to Hiccup. "See ya later, man."

Hiccup tapped it with his own fist. "Later, Snotlout."

He and Fishlegs watched him go. "Want me to walk you to class," Fishlegs asked.

Hiccup shook his head. "I kinda wanna be alone right now. Still processing this, ya know."

Fishlegs laughed. "Definitely."

They walked out the Nurse's office together and Fishlegs waved bye before going in a different direction.

Hiccup walked to art wondering about Astrid. He wasn't kidding when he said he'd stay away from her. Hopefully they didn't have any classes together.


	3. Chapter 3

Astrid walked to her next class in a better mood. After a talk with the principal, Softball gave her a great opportunity to hit something and almost all the anger was out of her system. Almost. It really irked her when the coach looked at her for a few seconds before excusing herself. Astrid had crossed her arms, knowing exactly what she had went to go do. When the coach had come back, she had given Astrid a weird look the entire period. She hoped no other teacher did that.

There were others already in the art room when she entered, but she paid them no mind as she went up to the teacher. "Excuse me," she interrupted her finger painting. The teacher looked at Stormfly with wide eyes. "I'm Astrid Hofferson," she explained, and at the mention of her name, the teacher snapped her head towards her. "I'm the new student."

"A-Astrid," the woman finally spoke, a startled look on her face. She quickly wiped it away with a smile. "If you'll excuse me for a second, dear…" She hastily left the room and came back a minute later with a huge smile on her face. "Astrid Hofferson, it is great to meet you," she said in an overly joyous voice as she went to her computer. Astrid watched as she typed away in her computer, not caring about the paint on her fingers. "It says here that you took Drawing 2 last year? Trust me, dear, Painting is nothing like drawing. But I'm sure you'll figure it out. We're gonna be starting a new project today so don't be afraid to ask for help."

Astrid smiled at the friendliness of this teacher. Her schedule said her name was Estrella Gerund. "Thanks Ms. Gerund. I will."

"Have a seat anywhere~ you'd like, sweetie."

Astrid smiled before taking a seat near the front. There was already an easel in front of her and a pallette laid upon it. She grabbed it wondering what her first ever painting would be.

The bell rang and Ms. Gerund started class. "Ok, my little artists! How have your days been?" Some answered her with one-worded responses while others didn't answer at all. "Great," she yelled, not losing her cheery mood. "Today, we are starting a new project! Unlike last project's theme, which was Dreams by the way" she spoke to Astrid with a wink. "This project's theme is Something You Love." Astrid could hear a few murmurs of excitement. "And we will be completing this project with finger painting."

"We barely learned how to regular paint," a student protested. Others agreed.

Ms. Gerund raised a brow. "What's the first step to "regular" painting?" They all stayed silent. "That's what I thought. We're going to be learning all different kinds of painting styles and each one starts with the same exact step. Not a single person in here knows what that is?" They all stayed silent. Ms. Gerund sighed before walking to the back of the class. Astrid followed her movements, wondering what she was doing. That's when she saw her pull an earphone out of her stalker's ear. Someone had to be kidding her! He was in this class?! "Hiccup," she said, weirdly. "Why don't you tell everyone what the first step to any painting is?"

Hiccup gave her an annoyed look. She had interrupted his music! Who does that?! "You create a sketch," he answered before trying to get back to his. But, of course, Ms. Gerund grabbed his arm and lifted him up.

"Why don't you go give us an example?" He gave her a look. Wasn't she just badgering him about resting his wrist? He walked over to the front, nonetheless, and started drawing a simple sketch of a face.

Astrid glared at his back as he drew. How could this stalker be so talented?

"When sketching," he announced. "You want to sketch out the places you want shaded as well."

What did that even mean? She tried to look at his sketch, but he was standing in front of it, still drawing. When he finally moved to show his sketch, Astrid couldn't believe her eyes. That asshole!

"So, who's this," Ms. Gerund asked.

"Tuffnut," Hiccup answered. He smiled at Ms. Gerund. "He has a twin sister. They get into all kinds of trouble on Berk. Its hilarious." He frowned. "Except for when it gets us in trouble."

Ms. Gerund had a huge smile. "In your dreams, right?"

Hiccup laughed. "Where else?" When he turned to the class, he almost dropped dead. Astrid was sitting not even a yard away from him. How did he not notice her?! And, to no surprise to him, she was glaring at him. No, not at him, at the sketch. When her eyes flickered to him, he almost jumped out of his skin. Her eyes seemed to be showing more anger as the pencil she was holding split in two. He gulped. He hoped she wasn't angry for the reason he thought she was. He really didn't want to go to a stupid football game.

* * *

Astrid rushed out the art room the second the bell rang wishing she had broken the asshole's left wrist instead. Then he wouldn't be able to draw anything about his stupid, little "dreams". Ugh! And the whole school was buying it! She swore to make that sucker pay!

But revenge could wait. She was hungry. She hurried to one of the lines that didn't seen too long and regretted her choice once she got her meal. It wasn't that she didn't like spaghetti, but this did not look edible at all. The sauce was watery and the noodles felt like mush in her mouth. Only the meatballs were good and there was only three. She shook her head before taking a drink of her milk…

… and spitting it right out. "Ulgh!" She checked the date on her milk. It expired a week ago. She sighed and pushed her meal away.

There was suddenly a better meal right in of her. She looked up to see Mala smiling down at her. "First and third," she said as she sat down next to her.

"What?"

"They're the lines with the good food," she explained. "Eat." She scooted the plate of chicken closer to Astrid.

"That's your food."

"I ate enough, don't worry."

"Are you sure?"

"Completely," she smiled.

There was a slight pause before Astrid dug into the chicken. "Than shoo so mush," she thanked, her mouth full.

"No problem." She looked around. "I'm guessing by the events of this morning, you didn't know Henry at all."

"Nope."

"And you broke his wrist."

"Yup."

"Why?"

Astrid sighed. "That painting. I've never dressed anything like that, but that was me. I never gave any 'Henry' permission to paint me!"

"I was told that was his wife from his dreams."

"And I'm saying he's a creep who saw my picture online and decided he didn't need my permission to paint me!"

"Hiccup doesn't really spend his time on the Internet. He thinks its a waste of time."

"And what is with that nickname?! Hiccup?! It sounds stupid!"

"Talking about your husband, dream girl?!"

Astrid turned her head to a brunette at the next table, surrounded by a bunch of girls who looked like their only goal was to look pretty. "What did you call me?"

"I called you 'Dream Girl'," she repeated.

Astrid turned her entire body towards her. "Call me that again, and I'll pummel your pretty face."

"Angela stand down," Mala ordered, getting up. "Behave yourself or I'll have no choice but to tell the coach of your behavior."

The girl rolled her eyes before turning to her friends. She whispered something and they were suddenly laughing.

Mala turned Astrid away from them and handed her her chicken. Astrid snatched it away from her and chomped down at it. "If people actually start calling me that, I will kill him."

"Hiccup meant no harm with that painting, Astrid. I'm sure of it. I think you should talk to him! And apologize for the wrist."

"Yeah, that's not happening. I hate him!"

Mala sighed. "That is such a shame. You're dog seems to like him very much."

Astrid glared at the chicken. "Stormfly never runs from me. Especially for some stranger." Astrid turned to Stormfly only to find she wasn't there. "Oh my gods! Stormfly!" She bolted for the art room.

* * *

It was finally that time of year Hiccup had hoped for. Ms. Gerund finally decided she trusted him enough to leave him in the art room alone while she went out to eat under the condition he left the door closed.

And he had until he heard some whining outside. When he had checked to see what it was, he found Astrid's service dog scratching at the door. He had looked around as much as he could and didn't see Astrid anywhere so, he made the mistake of opening the door. The dog had tackled him the second she could.

He had miraculously escaped and was standing on a table as Stormfly tried to climb it when Astrid and Mala walked in.

"Stormfly! Get away from him!" Astrid watched as Stormfly tried even harder to get on the table by jumping.

"Ah," Hiccup yelped, scooting closer to the middle of the table.

Astrid finally went up to her and grabbed her collar. "Honestly, where's the loyalty!" She dragged her a safe distance from the stalker. "Bad girl!" Stormfly finally acknowledge her words and gave her big puppy eyes. "Those are not gonna work. How dare you leave my side!" Stormfly's eyes seemed to get bigger and shinier and Astrid was soon putty in her paws. "Oh," she groaned. "I could never stay mad at you, girl." She rubbed her dogs favorite part under the chin and she started wagging her tail. Astrid stood up with a smile and started walking towards the exit, Stormfly right behind her.

"Ahem," Mala coughed. Astrid gave her a look. She pointed towards the stalker who was happily going back to his seat without Stormfly tackling him down. She immediately knew what Mala wanted her to do. She sighed as she fully turned towards him.

"Hey stalker," Hiccup heard Astrid call and immediately knew she was talking to him. He hoped that that wasn't what she was going to call him from now on. "I'm sorry for breaking your wrist," she apologized in a way he knew she wasn't sorry at all. Suddenly, her bored look turned into a glare. "But, I want you to look at that thing and know I could have done much worse." Her eyes we filled with such ferocity that he couldn't tear his gaze away. "Stay out of my way," she growled before leaving the room, Stormfly on her tail.

Hiccup finally broke out of his trance. "Yeah, yeah, I'll definitely-" The door closed. "-do that," he finished lamely.

"That went well," Mala commented.

"If by 'well', you mean I'll probably die in the near future by her hands, then, yes, it went well." He picked up his sketch book and shoved it in his backpack. He still wasn't sure what to paint for the project. "Where's Snotlout and Fishlegs?"

"The coach wanted them at the field for lunch. They told me to tell you since you never go on your phone. I'd've told you earlier, but I saw Astrid eating lunch alone and the poor thing got spaghetti-"

"The poor thing," Hiccup repeated, feeling actual sympathy.

"I gave her my lunch, but I kept my milk and biscuit."

"Cheer next period?"

"Exactly." Hiccup opened the door and let Mala walk out before he did. "Thank you, Hiccup. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take my leave, now. I must go cheer on Snotlout. Farewell!"

"Later, Mala!" He smiled as he watched her go. He liked how she always talked so formal. It was sort of refreshing. He took a deep breath as he started walking early to his next class.

* * *

Astrid finally got home from a tiring day. Turns out 'Dream Girl' was her new nickname and she couldn't punch anyone unless she wanted to be suspended. Punching that asshole wasn't worth it. She took off her shoes and lied down on her bed. "Ugh," she groaned into her hands. "How am I gonna fix this?"

"How are you gonna fix what, hon?"

Astrid turned to her mom and smiled. "The aglet on my shoe."

Her mom blinked. "So, anyway, I got us some Panda E." She started leaving the room. "And I got you your egg rolls."

Astrid was instantly up. "With Sweet n' Sour sauce?"

"You know it!"

Astrid sat at the table seeing that her mom had already served it and shoved a piece of orange chicken in her mouth.

"So, how was school today?"

Astrid started choking on the orange chicken. She hit her own chest hard enough to where the chicken flew out of her mouth. Stormfly ate it. Astrid turned to her mom with a nervous smile. "It was great!" Her mom gave her a look. "I have softball first period. And the coach said I'll still get a letterman even though I wasn't on their team for the first three years." She could see her mother starting to smile. She just needed to keep telling her all the things that went right today. "And in Painting, we're gonna be finger painting and the theme is 'Something You Love'. So you're gonna have to pose for a picture in the near future."

Her mom's smile was wide now. "You are the best daughter a woman could have. Did you meet anyone new," she asked. Astrid glared at her plate. "What? What happened?"

"Let's just say I have to help with some play for the next few weeks."

"Why," her mom asked in a way all moms asked when they were angry.

"I don't-" She sighed. "I don't feel like explaining it right now. I just wanna sit here, eat my egg rolls with my loving mother, and forget about that little event for a moment." She gave her mom a pleading look.

"... You can have that for today. But I will want to know what happened, Astrid. Am I clear?"

Astrid nodded. "Crystal."

Her mother took a deep breath before smiling. "So, did you see Mala today?"

* * *

Avenue Q was a great play. Hiccup had seen it ten times in actual theaters and was ecstatic when Mr. B'cket asked him to help build the set. It was going to be great!

"So, this is all there is," Hiccup asked, looking at what little supplies there was.

"Well, we'll have more supplies once the fundraiser's over," Mr. B'cket explained. "I was hoping you could sketch out a set design, so I could see how much we need to earn."

Hiccup nodded with a lopsided smile. "I can do that. Definitely!" He looked around the stage. "I have the perfect image."

Mr. B'cket smiled. "Great! Cause you're directing this play."

"Seriously?!" Hiccup was trying so hard to contain his excitement, but it wasn't working.

"You've helped me all these years, I couldn't think of anyone better."

Hiccup couldn't feel more giddy than he did now. He had never directed a play before! And this was gonna be Avenue Q! Everything had to be perfect! "Thank you, Mr. B! I'll have a sketch done by the end of the week!" With a wave goodbye, he was off. What an amazing way to end a day!

Hiccup's mood was instantly ruined when he saw his dad's car in the driveway. Just another few hours of awkward silence. Walking in the house, he hoped to be able to sneak to his room.

"Hiccup!" He heard his dad call.

He reluctantly walked down the stairs and was completely confused when he saw his dad's smiling face. Was he happy to see him? Nope, not possible. "Yeah, dad?"

His dad's smile widened. "There's a surprise for you in the kitchen."

"A-a surprise?" His dad nodded. Hiccup did as well before warily walking around his dad and into the kitchen.

There, a girl with black hair and smiling, green eyes stood and Hiccup almost fainted. "H-Heather," he breathed out.

"Hi, Hiccup," she said, shaking with emotion.

And she wasn't the only one. It took everything Hiccup had not to crush her in the hug he brought her in. "Are you OK," he asked, eyes filling with tears. He realized a second later how stupid his question was. He pulled away from her. "I-I-I mean, are you good? No! That's not-"

He was interrupted by her giggle. Oh, how he missed that giggle! "Yes, Hiccup, I'm OK." She smiled at him. "They wouldn't have let me out if I wasn't."

Hiccup took a shaky breath to keep from crying. "I'm glad." He smiled at her. He was still letting it seep in that she was actually here. "H-how was it?"

"It was great! It was nothing like the movies, trust me. They took good care of me there?"

Hiccup nodded. "That-that's great!"

She rolled her eyes with an affectionate smile. "Are you gonna stutter in every sentence you say to me?"

"For the next few hours, probably," he joked, finally feeling at ease. He looked at her. "Wh-when did they let you out?!"

"Yesterday," she answered. "I kinda wanted it to be a surprise." She giggled. "Surprise," she yelled with jazz hands.

Hiccup smiled. "I'm glad you're back." He leaned in closer and whispered, "It's been nothing but awkward silences here."

"Well, I'm here to change that! I'll make sure you two are never alone together. I know what happens."

"Thanks! I appreciate that."

They both finally took a seat at the table. "So, how are Fishlegs Snotlout?"

"They're great, actually. Snotlout's the 'star quarterback', now. Whatever that means."

Heather looked skeptical. "Really?"

"Yes, 'really'." Her gave her an annoyed look. "Why is everyone always surprised when Snotlout accomplishes something?"

"Because his ego usually gets in the way if his goals," she answered with a smirk. Her smirk turned into a smile. "And Fishlegs? How is he?"

"Still the same as ever, actually."

"And by that you mean he's still single, right?"

Hiccup laughed. "I'm telling you, you have to make the first move. He'll never do it!"

"I'm not doing it, either!"

Hiccup laughed. "Of course you're not!" He shook his head with an affectionate smile. This was a conversation they had so many times, it was almost like she never even left for six months. He grabbed her hand. "I'm really glad you're back."

She squeezed his hand. "I am too." She took her hands away before leaning back into the chair. "How's your day been, Hiccup?"

Hiccup let out a long, low whistle. "You're not gonna believe it."


	4. Chapter 4

Astrid completely dreaded entering the school, especially since she could already hear people yelling, "Hey, Dream Girl!" or "Sup, Dream Girl!" It was completely annoying. What was even more annoying was that, now, she had to keep Stormfly on a leash. A _leash_! Stormfly had never ever needed a leash! But she couldn't have Stormfly chasing that stalker. What was that even about? Did he have dog nip or something? Did that even exist?! She didn't care, Stormfly was on a leash so she shouldn't have any problems.

"Oof," she let out as she was knocked to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, lass," someone yelled with a thick accent before picking her up with their ginormous hand. Astrid looked up… and up and up. There stood a mountain of a man with a huge red beard. Astrid thought he looked completely ridiculous in the suit he was wearing. If the man were to flex, the suit would rip to pieces.

"You'll have to excuse my uncle." Astrid turned to see a girl with black hair and green eyes. She wore a batwing shirt and long, grey fingerless gloves.

"Sometimes I forget how big I am," he laughed.

"I-its OK," Astrid said, smiling. "I'm completely fine." She held out a hand to the girl. "I'm Astrid."

The girl took it. "Heather." She glanced down for a second. "Cute dog!"

"Thanks!"

They both turned when they heard a loud clap. "Well, you've made a friend so I'll just take my leave. Remember, Heather, if you need any help, just ask-"

"I know," she interrupted with a small smile.

"And if anything happens-"

"I know!" She giggled. "I'll be fine, Uncle Stoick, I promise."

"OK," he said, looking sheepish. He started backing away. "Remember-"

"I will."

"-if anything happens-"

"I will!"

"-call me!"

"Goodbye, Uncle Stoick!" Though she sounded annoyed, Astrid could see a smile on her face.

Her uncle gave them a wave before finally leaving. Heather let out a laugh before turning to Astrid. "He's so overprotective."

"I feel ya," Astrid agreed. "My mom won't let me go anywhere without Stormfly."

"Is that the dog's name?" Astrid nodded. Heather was already leaning down when she asked, "Can I pet him?"

"You can pet _her_ ," Astrid laughed. "She's a complete sweetheart." Astrid smiled as she watched Heather coo at her dog.

"She is so cute! What's her job?"

"She used to be able to tell when I was about to have an episode, but I haven't had one since I was twelve. I keep her around for sentimental reasons."

Heather stood up with a laugh. "I say that's good enough reason to keep her!"

"Right?!" They both started laughing. "I like you," Astrid stated. "You're my new friend."

"I have no objections," she joked.

"Alright, new friend, where ya from?"

"I'm from Scotland, actually."

"No way!"

"Way!"

"I'm of Scottish descent!"

"What a coincidence?! All my friends are of Scottish descent!"

"You serious?!"

"Yeah! They're all second generations except for Mala-"

"Mala Queen?!"

"That's her!"

"I just met her a few days ago, she's really cool."

"I'm pretty sure this entire school admires her. Her last name's not Queen for nothing!" They both laughed again. "Oh," Heather yelled, starting to dig through her backpack. "Let me see your schedule!"

Astrid quickly brought out her schedule and they held them together. They both scanned the paper together. "... we have fifth period together," they yelled in sync. "Oh! And eighth," Astrid pointed out.

"This is so great. We have to sit together!"

"And meet for lunch!"

They both squealed. "I can't believe I finally have a girl best friend!"

"What about Mala?"

"She already has a best friend. He's probably in college right now."

"So all you have are guy friends?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I don't mind it, though. Scott tried to hit on me a lot, but he stopped once he realized he had no chance."

"Scott?"

"He's part of my regular group of friends. Hits on a lot of pretty girls even though he has a girlfriend."

"That's disgusting."

"Well, not really. He never really asked her out, she just claimed he was her boyfriend after some incident freshman year. At least, that's what I was told. But I think he should stop being a coward and tell her he's not intere-"

 _RIING!_

Heather smiled. "I hope you know a bit of calculus, cause I don't."

"Then we're both screwed," Astrid joked before they headed off to class.

* * *

' _Where are you?_ ' Heather texted. She looked around and couldn't see Astrid anywhere. Her phone dinged.

' _I'll be in the theater for a bit_ ,' she read Hiccup's text. ' _Meet you at the cafeteria later. The guys are gonna be so surprised see you, I still haven't told them yet_.'

She rolled her eyes before texting back, ' _You're evil_.' That's when she noticed Astrid waving to her from the corner of her eye. "Astrid," she waved back before closing the distance. She bent down to pet Stormfly before she asked, "How was English?"

"It was good, I guess," she answered, scanning for a table. "That one's open," she yelled before walking fast towards it before anyone else could take it. After both she and Heather sat down, she continued. "We're gonna start writing college essays. I think I'll be ahead since I made one last year for the college I want to go to. I just have to revise it a bit since things have changed." She smiled at Heather. "How was Government?"

"Ugh," she groaned. "Terrible! I had to sit through a powerpoint about the 3 branches of Government. And I'm pretty sure I learned that in History two years ago." She checked her phone.

"Oh, it can't be that bad." Astrid thought about it. "But, then again, I'm planning on being a lawyer, so…"

"I plan on being a foster parent. Or a caretaker at an orphanage. Whichever one I'm able to do first, actually." She checked her phone again.

"That's really amazing of you. What made you want to do that?"

"Just… personal experiences." Astrid watched as she checked her phone once again.

"Are you bored?"

Heather gave her a look. "No, why?"

"You keep looking at your phone."

"Oh! Sorry, but I'm kinda expecting someone. They said they'll be here in a few minutes."

"Is this one of your friends?"

"Yeah! I haven't seen him in a long time. We reconnected yesterday, actually. I was hoping to spend some time with him during lunch, but he's working on a play."

"Oh, is he an actor?"

"Gods, no! He's as terrible acting as he is lying. He knows what he wants though. He gets to direct."

"Well, I guess I better meet him. I'm gonna have to help with that play."

"Are you in theater?"

"No, I broke an idiot's wrist yesterday."

Heather gave her a weird look. This couldn't be the girl! She was too nice! "For what," she drew out.

"This one idiot painted me without permission. Who does that?!"

"Yeah," Heather said, nervously. "Who?"

"And, thanks to him, I'm stuck helping out with this play coming up."

"That sucks," she commented.

"Yeah, it does." Astrid glanced at lunch lines. "The lines are shorter, wanna get in line?"

"I'm not really hungry," she lied. "You go ahead, I'll watch our stuff."

"Thanks! C'mon, Stormfly."

Once Astrid was in line, Heather rushed to unlock her phone. ' _ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!_ ' She typed her text to Hiccup. But before she could hit send-

"Heather," she heard Hiccup call. Suddenly, he was sitting right where Astrid had been and was shoving a sketchbook towards her. "Watta you think?"

She looked at the sketch, panicked. "What is this?"

Hiccup looked offended. "Its the sketch of the set design!"

Heather shook her head. "Never mind that! Put it away!"

"You don't like it?"

"Hiccup!"

"Look, I know it looks bland now, but I'm sure you'll like it once I add color."

"Hiccup, you can't be here," she whisper yelled.

Hiccup laughed. "Watta you talking ab- Oh! Guys! Over here," he yelled to Fishlegs and Snotlout.

They both walked over and immediately froze when they saw who was sitting with him. "Heather!" Snotlout broke from his trance and brought her into a crushing hug. "Aw, man, its great to see you!" Snotlout pulled away and gave her a huge smile. Heather tried to find words to say, but she couldn't seem to. "Speechless? Not surprised. I did grow more handsome since the last time you saw me."

Heather laughed and finally found something to say. "Still the same old Snotlout." Her eyes flickered towards Fishlegs. "Hey."

Fishlegs slowly sat down. "Y-your back."

"I am."

"When?"

"Yesterday."

They both gave each other shy smiles.

"Hey, Heather, who you talking- Ugh, you guys," Astrid yelled when she saw who was sitting with her.

"Oh, hey, its the Dream Girl," Snotlout smiled.

"Call me that again and I'll stab you with my fork," she threatened, holding up a fork.

"Wait, wait!" Hiccup blocked Astrid from Snotlout. "What's this about a dream girl?"

Astrid crossed her arms and gave him a forced smile. "That's what people are calling me now." She started glaring at him and pointed the fork towards him. "Because of your stupid painting!"

Hiccup gulped and took a step back. "I'm sorry."

"You're _sorry_?"

Hiccup gave her an annoyed look. "What else do you want me to say?!"

"Something better than a shitty _sorry_!"

"Look, you weren't even supposed to be real! You were figment of my imagination that I would draw from time to time."

"Oh, is that the lie you're telling everyone?"

"It's the truth!"

"Ok," Heather yelled when she noticed people looking. She glared at Hiccup. "You're causing a scene," she whisper yelled.

"Me?!" She gave him a look. "Ok, yeah. Me." He rolled his eyes, sat down, and started fixing up his sketch. It's not his fault he was the Mayor's son.

Heather hated having to do that, but what she was about to do next would be good in the long run. "Sorry about that, Astrid. So," she sat down and made Snotlout scoot over for a seat for Astrid. "How did you break Hiccup's wrist?"

"Fractured," Snotlout and Fishlegs corrected.

Astrid sat down, disappointed. "I only fractured it? I thought I was stronger than that."

"So how'd you break it? And can you show me how to do it?"

Hiccup gave her a quizzical look. "What? Wh-why do you need to know that?!"

Heather waved her hand. "No reason," she lied. "So, Astrid?"

"You just bend the hand back until you feel a crack," Astrid happily explained. "It's better to use it as a surprise attack so that you can do a bit of damage-"

"Don't teach her stuff like that!"

"Why not," Astrid asked Hiccup. "A girl needs to learn how to defend herself. Especially from creeps like you!"

Hiccup gave her a look that told her she was crazy before turning to Fishlegs. "Change the subject."

Though he had asked Fishlegs, it was Snotlout who spoke. "Gotcha, Chief!" He gave him a thumbs up before turning to Heather. "So how was it studying abroad?"

Hiccup should've known they would've asked that.

"You studied abroad," Astrid asked.

That was the lie they had told to keep people from asking questions. How were they gonna get through this?

"I just went back to Scotland for a few months," Heather easily lied. Hiccup guessed that was the lie she had come up with. "I didn't learn anything I didn't already know."

"I wish I could visit Scotland," Fishlegs finally spoke. "Apparently, one of my aunts owns a castle and uses it as an inn."

"Are you serious," she asked, excitedly. He nodded. "How on earth did she get a castle?"

"It was passed down to her, actually. I wanna go over there and learn all about how she was able to make it habitable by today's standards."

"That's amazing, Fishlegs!"

"Seriously, this is how you two flirt?" Snotlout made a gagging noise as the two blushed red.

"Well, not everyone's as smooth as you, Scott," Hiccup retorted, distracted.

Snotlout smiled smugly. "Of course not, I'm one of a kind!"

"Don't you have a girlfriend," Astrid asked, disgusted.

His smile fell. "She is not my girlfriend!"

"Does _she_ know that," Hiccup asked.

Heather glared at him. "Are you kidding me?! You still haven't grown a pair?!"

Fishlegs laughed. "He runs into the men's room whenever he sees her coming."

"That's messed up," Astrid commented.

"If its so easy, why don't one of you do it for me?!"

"It has to be you," Heather answered.

"And it has to be soon," Hiccup added. "I don't think telling her on your wedding day would do you any good."

"Mala is fucking scary when she's angry!"

"And how do you know she'll be angry," Astrid asked. "For all we know she'll be delighted to be rid of you."

"I'm praying to Odin that that's the case!"

"Pray all you want to Odin," Heather laughed. "I hope she gets mad! You need to stop being a coward."

"Caring for your own safety is not cowardice!"

"It is when its you," Fishlegs joked.

"You guys are so mean to me. I'm getting some lunch."

The three long time friends burst out laughing as Snotlout walked away. "Oh, c'mon Snotlout," Hiccup yelled. "We were just joking!" He flipped them off and they all laughed harder. "I'll go talk to him," Hiccup told them before going after Snotlout.

Astrid watched him go, a bit angry that he was able to act so calm around her. "So, uh, Astrid." She turned to the big guy they called Fishlegs. "Where're you from?"

"I'm from New York," she answered.

Fishlegs thought that made sense, that's where all that anger came from.

"Oh, you never would've guessed," Heather squealed. "She's of Scottish descent!"

"Really?!" And that's where all that strength came from.

"Yup," Astrid answered. "My grandparents came from Scotland. They always talked about it but they never took me. They tried once, but…"

"But what?"

"But nothing!" Astrid glared at him before shoving some noodles in her mouth. The line had served asian today and it came with meat, so she grabbed a piece of chicken and tossed it to Stormfly. Fishlegs and Heather had their own conversation going now and Astrid just sat there. She looked up when she heard someone coming and rolled her eyes. It was just the stalker.

"-and I'll be right there if she does," Hiccup finished his sentence as they sat down.

Snotlout gave him a look before he pointed at his blonde friend. "Fishlegs has to be there too."

"I have to be where now," he asked upon hearing his name.

"When he breaks it to Mala," Hiccup explained as he grabbed his chicken. "You know, just in ca- Hey!" Hiccup stared incredulously at Stormfly as she perched herself right next to Astrid and ate his chicken. Everyone started laughing as he grew a blank face and turned to Astrid.

She tried to hold in her laughter, she really did. "I want you...to know," she started in between giggles. "That I didn't...tell her to do that." She started laughing harder. "But I wish I had!"

After the laughing died down, everything shifted to a pleasant conversation. Well, as pleasant as it could get with Astrid completely ignoring Hiccup. He sighed in relief when the bell rang. He did not need to spend another minute in the presence of _Astrid_.

She slung her backpack over her shoulder before throwing an arm around Heather and bringing her into a hug. "See you in Geography."

"See you in Geography," she repeated before they parted.

Hiccup gave her an annoyed look. "Don't we have Geography together?"

Heather gave him a blank look before her eyes widened in realization. "Oh my gods! This is perfect!"

"What? Wh-why is this perfect?"

Heather grabbed his empty plate and headed towards the trash can. "Don't worry about it!"

Hiccup looked at her like she was crazy before turning to the guys to see that they had already left. He sighed before getting up himself and heading to English.

* * *

Astrid entered Geography and found an empty seat near the front. Most of the people already in there were just talking and she couldn't seem to find the teacher anywhere. She brought out her phone to pass the time before she heard a familiar voice. "-and it's going to be fun," the stalker said to Heather with a huge smile. "You just gotta tell my dad that I'll drive you to school tomorrow."

"Ok," she agreed. "Are you sure you should be riding with a fractured wrist?"

"I rode to school today, didn't I?"

"You got me there." She finally made eye contact with Astrid and her smile brightened. She grabbed Hiccup's wrist and made her way towards her. She shoved Hiccup one desk away from Astrid before sitting in between them. "You should come to school early tomorrow."

Astrid gave her a confused look. "Why?"

"Because- Huh?" She looked down at the small note Hiccup put on her desk. 'NO!' She gave Hiccup a look but he wasn't having it.

Hiccup stood up and gave Heather a forced smile. "I'm gonna go sit where I always sit."

Heather watched him go before she rolled her eyes. Turning to Astrid with a smile, she asked, "Have you had Geography before?"

"I didn't even know it was a class until I saw it on my schedule yesterday."

"Yeah, I tore Hiccup's ear off about that this morning. Sophomore year, he was so sure that World History counted as World Geography."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Hey, I believed it, so that makes me even dumber."

They both giggled before Heather was brought into a hug from behind. "Sup, Heather," Snotlout said before letting go and rubbing her head.

She gave him a slight glare as she fixed her hair. "You're in this class?"

"You bet! And, hey!" He leaned in and whispered, "So's Fishlegs."

Heather blushed beet red before Snotlout walked over to Hiccup, laughing his head off. That's when Fishlegs walked in and smiled and waved upon seeing her. She looked away as fast as she could.

"So, I'm thinking you like Fishlegs," Astrid whispered. Heather nodded. "Why don't you ask him out?" She dismissed the question with a wave. "I thin-"

"Ok," someone bellowed as the bell rang. "Class has started and you all need to shut up!" Astrid recognized the man as the one that sent her to the principal yesterday. Mr. Belch. He looked over at she and Heather and smiled. "I see there are new students today, so I shall say the speech again."

"Ugh," the class groaned and Astrid wondered what on earth this speech could be.

Mr. Belch stood behind his desk and spoke. "Congratulations! You are one of the poor idiots that didn't take Geography their freshman year. But, you are also one of the lucky suckers that got into the class with all the other idiots seniors instead of the Freshmen. So, good luck!" And with that, he started class.

* * *

Hiccup handed his uncle, Gobber Belch, his exit ticket and was about to walk out before his uncle's prosthetic hand stopped him. "Not so fast, Hiccup."

"What now?"

"You too, Heather," Gobber said as she handed him her exit ticket.

"What? What's going on?"

Gobber patted her head and turned to Hiccup. "Your father called me and said he wanted you two all dolled up by six. You'll be having dinner with the Governor's family today."

"Ok," Heather took the news in easily.

"...Why didn't he call me?"

They both turned to Hiccup. "What?"

"You know, why didn't he call _me_?"

Gobber seemed at loss for words for a few seconds before he found some. "Your father is very busy, you know that, Hiccup."

"Too busy to call you instead of me?"

"Hiccup," Heather said. "I'm sure it's not like that."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, walking out. "It never is."

Heather watched him go before Astrid came to her side. "What was that about?"

Heather sighed before giving her a small smile. "Nothing. Are you doing anything today," she asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, actually. I got a text during 7th that my friends are finally here. I'm gonna have to help unpack."

"That's sweet of you."

"Yeah, well, we're gonna be living in the same apartment. Their mom just so happens to be my mom's best friend," Astrid explained happily. "Wanna meet them?"

"I wish I could, but I'm busy. My uncle got us a dinner with the governor."

"You serious! Are you guy's, like, rich or something?"

"My uncle is the mayor, actually."

"Really?!"

"And he's Hiccup's dad," she explained with a smirk.

It took a minute for it to sink in, but when it did, Astrid almost screamed. "You're kidding, right?" Heather shook her head. "Oh my gods! That means I attacked the Mayor's son!"

Heather started laughing. "It's ok, Hiccup isn't a snitch. And, besides, his dad hasn't even noticed the cast. And if he did, he hasn't said anything."

"I broke the mayor's son's wrist," Astrid whispered in horror.

"It's fine! And you fractured it, you didn't break it."

Astrid took a deep breath. "I...don't feel any guilt, actually. He still shouldn't have painted me without my permission. There are still idiots calling me Dream Girl."

"Well, I'm not and that's what should matter. I'll see you tomorrow, Astrid. I'm headed this way," she pointed towards the Student Parking Lot.

"I'm headed this way," She pointed to the path most students were taking. Astrid gave her hug before heading home.

* * *

The TV kept losing signal and the man punched it again. "Stupid TV," he muttered. When it seemed the tv was going to be fine, Savage went back to his old, ripped up chair and sat down. He changed the channel a few times before landing on the news.

"And as you can see," the reporter said. "The governor and his family are here having their annual dinner with the Haddock family." The camera zoomed into the restaurant and showed off the families. "Henry looks as bored as ever and, as you can see, Heather Deranged is back from studying abroad. And there's…"

He let the reporter drone on as he looked to a man sitting at a desk in the shadows. "Aye, Dagur, isn't that your sister?"

After saying that, a dagger dug into the chair cushioning above his head. Savage looked on, fearfully, as the mysterious man stepped into the light. He was tall and muscular and covered in scars, the most noticeable were the three over his left eye. His fiery red hair was cut short and naturally spiked up and if looks could kill, his fury filled green eyes would certainly get the job done.

"As far as I'm concerned," he growled. "I don't _have_ a sister."


	5. Chapter 5

"The left side is mine!"

"No, its mine!"

Astrid sighed before dropping the box full of her friends' stuff. "Hurry up and pick a side!" Both Surely and Kevin paid her no mind as they continued to squabble. She sighed again before opening the door. "Aunty Thor! Your kids are driving me nuts!"

A beautiful laugh came from up the hall before a big, busty, and beautiful woman with gorgeous red, curly hair came into view. "They've been doing it for years," she said in a thick accent before going in the room and yelling. Astrid smiled when she entered the room herself and saw that the twins were each rubbing their heads, evidence that their mother had hit them. "Ruff, you get left, Tuff, you get right," she ordered.

"But-," Tuffnut started.

"No buts! That's the decision!"

"Yeah," Surely, or Ruffnut, yelled in glee as Kevin, or Tuffnut, groaned. "Alright, Astrid! That yak figurine goes right in the middle of the desk between our beds."

"And the butt goes on my side," Tuffnut clarified.

Astrid scoffed. "If you guys think I'm unpacking everything for you, you're crazy. Have fun," she said sweetly before exiting the room. Hopefully they wouldn't argue at school. She chuckled, who the hell was she kidding?! She plopped herself on the couch as Aunty Thorston made dinner and her mom looked at job recommendations from her uncle. She checked what was on the news.

"And as you can see," the reporter said. "The governor and his family are here having their annual dinner with the Haddock family." The camera zoomed into the restaurant and showed off the families. "Henry looks as bored as ever and, as you can see, Heather Deranged is back from studying abroad. And there's…"

"His last name is Haddock," she asked herself. "Like the fish?"

"What, sweetie," her mother called.

"Nothing," she answered before going back to the news.

"Going back to Henry, there's rumors going around that he's going to follow in his father's footsteps and become mayor himself."

"That bored face proves otherwise," one of the reporters said causing the others to laugh.

"Oh, oh, look!"

All the reporters turned to their screen right before the TV showed what they could see. Heather had whispered something into Hiccup's ear, causing him to stifle a laugh.

The TV showed the reporters again. "Oh, I wish those two would stop teasing us and just go out already."

Astrid laughed out loud. "Good luck with that!"

"Good luck with what," Tuffnut asked as he and his sister sat down with her.

"Aren't you two supposed to be unpacking?"

"We've done enough," Ruffnut answered.

"You've only been unpacking for, like, two minutes."

"Exactly," Tuffnut smiled.

Astrid smiled before turning back to the TV.

"... would make the absolute cutest couple!"

"Henry Haddock hasn't had a good run with women. In fact, before Heather Deranged, I don't even think he knew what a woman was."

"What the hell are they talking about," Ruffnut asked, confused and bored.

"Some kids from school, actually. I can introduce you to one of them tomorrow. The other can go die in a ditch."

"Which is which," Tuffnut asked, grabbing the remote and pausing at a scene of the table.

"You see the boy with some green near his hand?"

"Yeah," the twins answered in sync.

"He can go die in a ditch."

"Is that green thing a cast?"

"Yup."

Tuffnut laughed. "You actually did break his wrist!"

"Fractured."

"Fractured," Ruffnut repeated. "I thought you were stronger than that."

"I know, right?! I was so disappointed!"

"Who's the girl next to him," Tuffnut asked.

"Heather, she's our new friend."

"Our new friend?"

"Yup. I'll introduce you guys tomorrow." She went back to watching the news.

"Speaking of being terrible with women," one of reporters started. "According to a few schoolmates, Henry was attacked yesterday by a ' _crazy, blonde dream girl_ ', as they put it."

Astrid's mouth dropped opened and the twins burst out laughing. Her face turned red with anger before she screamed, "That Asshole!"

* * *

Kevin "Tuffnut" Thorston was always an early riser, but with the change in timezones, Astrid could've at least given them an extra hour to sleep. "Ugh," he groaned as he got up. "C'mon, 'Strid, five more minutes."

"Nope," Astrid said, gleefully.

He heard his sister scream and instantly shot up before Astrid could grab his blanket. "I'm up, I'm up!" He slipped on his shoes deciding that he could wear the same outfit from yesterday since no one had seen him in it. Looking over, tiredly, at his sister, it seemed she had decided the same.

He walked over to the restroom, checked his teeth and decided they were clean enough before brushing his long hair. Leaving the restroom, he heard the water go off and knew that his sister was washing up a bit. Ever since their sophomore year, she suddenly started caring about her hygiene. He grabbed his backpack, which his mom had prepared, and went to go wait in the living room with Astrid.

"Why are we awake so early?"

She gave him one of her devilish smiles. "Because yesterday Heather said I should come to school early today, and when I asked why, the stalker interrupted her answer. So, yeah, I'm gonna find out what's going on."

"Yeah, that's great n' all," he started.

"But why did we have to come along," Ruffnut finished.

"Because you guys are my best friends."

"As sweet as that is," Ruffnut started.

"We'd rather get some more sleep," he finished.

"Or, maybe, you'd rather get a punch in the face," Astrid suggested sweetly as she held up a fist. They only gave her blank looks, used to her threats. She groaned. "C'mon, guys! You're already up!" They didn't budge. "Plus, your mom said I had to walk you guys to school cause if you guys wake her up-"

"Fine," he yelled.

"Ugh, OK!"

Astrid smiled. "Let's go, Stormfly!" The dog barked in response.

* * *

Tuffnut wondered why on earth they had came to school early. The place looked entirely deserted! They were probably the first ones here!

"We're gonna miss it," a redhead girl yelled a few yards away. The three long time friends watched on, confused, as the girl ran behind the school.

"No we're not," a brunette boy yelled as he followed after her.

"I think whatever we're here for is that way," Tuffnut said.

"Way to go, Sherlock," his sister joked as Astrid started running too. They both followed after her.

As they got closer to whatever their destination was, he could hear engine noises and cheering. He looked to his sister just as she looked to him and they both started running faster. They made it to a parking lot surrounded by students.

"What the hell," Astrid said. "What's everyone at the student parking lot for?"

"I don't know," Tuffnut started.

"But we're gonna find out," Ruffnut finished with a laugh before shoving people out of her way. Her brother followed suit and Astrid walked the path they made.

"Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods," both twins started yelling while slightly smacking each other's arms.

"What," Astrid asked, coming in between them. That's when she saw exactly why everyone was here. Some guy was doing tricks on his motorcycle. She couldn't see who it was because he had on some weird helmet that covered his entire face, but this person was amazing. And his body was easy on the eyes. She couldn't help but ogle him for a bit.

Tuffnut did his best to try and explain what the guy was doing to Astrid, but stopped once he realized she wasn't listening. He kept on watching the guy as he did his wheelies and stoppies around the empty parking lot. He watched as two guys, a blonde and a brunette, held up a pole in his path. The guy suddenly started to slowly stand on his motorcycle, causing the crowd to cheer louder. Finally, he was standing on his motorcycle and using his foot to keep it going. He jumped a bit and turned so that his back was facing the pole, the pole he was getting closer to. Tuffnut was sure he knew what was gonna happen. The guy jumped off his motorcycle, did a half twist backflip over the pole, and landed back on the chopper before speeding up and making some burnouts. The crowd went wild! And so did Tuffnut.

"Astrid!" Tuffnut turned to see a girl with black hair and fingerless gloves that went to her elbows. She looked familiar.

"Heather!" Astrid brought her into hug. "Is this what you wanted me to see?"

"Yeah, isn't it awesome!"

"It's amazing! He's amazing," she admitted. "Who is that?" She turned to the guy, smiling just as he got off his motorcycle. He did some weird dance with that Snotlout guy that had them dancing in a circle with interlocking arms. It looked like a folkdance.

"Wanna meet him?"

"Oooh!" Ruffnut grabbed Astrid's arms. "Can we, can we, _can we_!"

"I'm guessing this is your friend from New York," Heather said with a smirk.

"Yup!"

"We meeting him or not," Tuffnut yelled.

"And that's her twin," Astrid explained to Heather's shocked face upon seeing him.

"Right." She smiled and held out a hand. "Nice to meet you two."

"Yeah, yeah, nice meeting you too," Ruffnut said dismissively. Her huge smile came back in a second. "Now let's go meet him!"

They all turned to him just as he was taking off his helmet. Astrid squinted at the green at his hand. Was that a- Her eyes widened in realization. It couldn't be?!

Tuffnut watched as the guy took off his helmet to reveal a guy of many people's dreams. He had auburn hair which became even more unkempt when he brushed a hand through it. And that lopsided smile brought out his green eyes even more. And those freckles! When Tuffnut thought about it, the guy looked kind of familiar…

"Oh, my gods! Astrid, isn't that your stalker," his sister laughed and he couldn't help but laugh himself. She hit his arm and beckoned him to follow her. He did.

Astrid rolled her eyes as the two went to go talk to the asshole. She turned to Heather, betrayed. "You knew about this."

"Obviously," she giggled. She stopped once she saw Astrid's glare. "Look, I'm sorry, but you're cool, and I want you to be my friend. And that can't happen if you don't like Hiccup. We've been through a lot together. I could never choose someone else over him."

Astrid sighed. Heather was cool too, and she didn't want to lose a new friend because of some idiot. "I guess I can... _tolerate_ him." She looked as Heather smiled at her. "But that's all I'm promising."

Heather laughed. "Can you also promise to stop calling him ' _stalker_ '. It's a little weird."

"I guess I can promise that too." Heather brought her into a hug without warning and Astrid welcomed it. When they broke the hug, Astrid couldn't help herself. "So I was watching the news last night-"

"Please don't."

"Aren't you two cousins?"

"Not exactly," Heather partially explained. "And that gives the news the green light to heighten our relationship. Which is purely platonic."

"Do you have to go through that a lot?"

"Yeah, it's annoying. On both ends of the spectrum. Especially since I'm always Hiccup's 'date' to dinners and junk."

"Are you?"

"No! I'm my Uncle Stoick's guest. But you know how the media is."

Astrid really didn't, but nodded anyway. She looked over to Hiccup to see that the twins finally made it to him.

"Oh, my gods," Snotlout laughed. "You have to come to our next game," he yelled at Hiccup as he continued to stare at Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

This could not be happening. He had guessed it when Astrid had glared at him when drawing Tuffnut, but he never thought they'd be here! He just thought they were old friends before she moved, he didn't think they'd move with her!

The two didn't seem to care about Snotlout as Ruffnut started asking him a million questions about his ride and Tuffnut started asking a million questions about himself. It was weird on so many levels cause, now, the whole gang was here. But there was no _gang_ here, only in his dreams.

"-and how much did it cost to design it like this," Ruffnut's question interrupted his thoughts.

"I, uh, designed it myself." He had had parts replaced and added a whole bunch of new parts to represent one of the dragons from his dreams, a Night Fury he called Toothless.

"You're serious right now," Tuffnut asked, amazed.

Hiccup smiled and nodded. "This used to be a Softail Standard, but I replaced everything metal with an iron I created that's lighter, but stronger. Even parts of the engine! It can go over 300 miles an hour, almost as fast as a Dodge."

"Oh, my gods," Ruffnut squealed as she hugged the bike.

"Astrid, how dare you," Tuffnut yelled as Astrid walked towards them.

Hiccup figured she would be here. He glared at Heather who only shrugged.

"What did I do," Astrid crossed her arms with a glare, Stormfly looking confused right behind her.

"Look at this," Tuffnut pointed to Hiccup. "Auburn hair!" He rubbed his hair causing Hiccup to smack his hand away. Tuffnut didn't care as went on with the list. "Green eyes!" He poked him in the eye.

"Ow," Hiccup yelled.

"Freckles!" Tuffnut rubbed his cheeks.

Hiccup had had enough. He took a few steps only to bump into Ruffnut, who threw her arms around his neck. "It's a walking dream, Astrid," Ruffnut said.

"Exactly," Tuffnut agreed. He gave Astrid a huge smile. "You should grab him while you have the chance!"

"I agree," Ruffnut hugged Hiccup tighter. "Hot geeks are rare."

"Hot geek," Hiccup wheezed, confused.

"Rare," Fishlegs repeated, offended.

"Could you," Hiccup wheezed out before needing more air. "Could you let me go," he quickly got out.

" _Ok_ ," Ruffnut said in way that told him she was not happy letting him go, but did it anyway.

Once he was free, he took a few gulps of air before settling down. "I'm guessing you guys are Astrid's friends."

"You would be correct, my good sir," Tuffnut said.

"The correctest of the correct," Ruffnut added.

Hiccup had a small smile at that. Just as silly as they were in his dreams. "Well, welcome to Berlood High."

"You should give us a tour," Tuffnut suggested.

Hiccup shrugged. "I guess I could after I'm done he-"

 _Ho-o-onk_!

They all turned to see a car and Hiccup looked a bit irked as he sighed. "First car of the day," he yelled to the audience. And instead of leaving, they all just started cheering, wanting him to do more tricks. He chuckled as he shook his head and walked his bike over to a parking spot.

"Whatta ya mean first car of the day," Ruffnut asked as they all followed him.

"First car of the day means more students with cars are coming and I can't do tricks with a full parking lot."

"Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup!"

Hiccup sighed and was about to tell everyone to leave but someone else beat him to it.

"Show's over," a feminine voice yelled. Almost automatically everyone moved out of the way to make a path for Mala. "I suggest you all go eat breakfast now! They have Parfaits!"

Still a bit disappointed, the students headed inside.

Mala smiled as she made her way towards them. "Good morning, Hiccup. I assume everything went well this time."

"You've assumed correct, your Highness," Hiccup joked.

Mala looked around the group. "Ah, new faces! And who might you two be?"

"Ruffnut Thorston."

"Tuffnut Thorston."

Mala gave them a smirk. "Are those really your names?"

"They are as far as I'm concerned, Missy," Ruffnut said with her own smirk.

Mala's smile turned gleeful. "Well, Berlood gladly welcomes you." She turned to Heather. "And Berlood gladly welcomes you back." She brought Heather into a hug. "It's been too long. How was Scotland?"

"It was great," Heather lied easily. "Felt nice to be back in those beautiful, vast lands."

"I assume it would be." She turned to Snotlout and held out an arm. "I believe you promised me breakfast yesterday."

"I did," Snotlout asked as he went pale. He did not remember that at all.

"You did."

"Well what am I waiting for?! Let's go!" He grabbed her arm. He turned to the others and mouthed, ' _Help me_.'

"I will see you all later," Mala said before she dragged Snotlout away.

"How pathetic," Astrid commented.

"Tell us about it," Fishlegs agreed.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "He'll tell her soon enough. Now about that tour?"

"And that concludes the tour," Hiccup said as he showed them back to the office. He had shown them everything everyone loved about this school, from the science hall to the engineering room in the basement-turned-useful. One thing he didn't want to show them, though, was the Fine Arts hall. He didn't need Astrid blowing a fuse when her friends saw the painting. He could tell she was silently still fuming about how her friends suggested she go out with him even though she hid it well as she talked to Heather. "And, now, I think you guy's should get your schedules."

"School doesn't start for another half hour," Heather stated. "You guys wanna try getting some breakfast? It's free for everyone."

"Sure," Ruffnut said, feeling her stomach growl.

"I really think you guys should get your schedule's first," Hiccup suggested. "You guys don't wanna be late on your first day here."

"We should get our schedules," Tuffnut agreed.

Ruffnut looked at him, surprised. Did he just agree to a plan that wouldn't get them late to class?!

"We'll have time to change them if we don't have all our classes together," He explained.

Hiccup smiled. They even had their moments of intelligence, just like his dreams! "That's great! You two do everything together?"

"Yeah," Tuffnut confirmed. "We're like two peas in a pod!"

"We were two peas in a pod," Ruffnut laughed and Tuffnut soon after. They had been making that twin joke for years.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Go get your schedules," she ordered and Hiccup showed them in.

* * *

Atali Queen stared at the two in front of her. "I'm sorry, but it's against school rules to have siblings in the same class. It's not up to me, I'm sorry."

"But we do everything together," Ruffnut tried to reason. "We have to be together. We're each other's best friends!"

"The rules say-"

"Just one class," Tuffnut tried to reason. "One class together! That's all we're asking!" He looked at her with pleading eyes.

Atali tried to look away, she did. But she remembered how hard it was when she had to part with all her sisters so that they could all pursue their own dreams. She sighed. "One class," she agreed. "What will it be?"

They both smiled and said, "Geography," knowing Astrid would be in that class.

"Alright, Kevin," she said. "Seems like you already have that class with Mr. Belch, so, Surely, I'll just transfer you to him as well."

The twins secretly fist-pumped and contained their excitement until they exited the office with their new schedules. "Yeah," they yelled in excitement before smashing their heads together. "Ow," they immediately yelled. "Why do we keep doing that," Ruffnut asked in pain.

"I dunno, but we should stop," Tuffnut answered.

"Did everything go ok with Ms. Queen," Hiccup asked. Though she and Mala were related, Atali Queen had no mercy.

"Yeah," Ruffnut answered with a huge smile. "We got geography with Astrid."

"Nice," Heather said.

"Now we all have geography together," Fishlegs agreed.

"Wait, you guys have geography too," Tuffnut asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Hiccup answered, not really happy about it. He took a sideways step away from Astrid.

Tuffnut didn't notice that, though, as he kept on smiling. His smile faltered a bit when he noticed a few girls walking past him with colored hair and blue robes that looked too big. Did this school have a cosmetology class?

"So, who's hungry," Heather asked. Everyone gave her positive answers.

"I'll catch up with you guys," Tuffnut said, backing away. "I gotta use the restroom."

Ruffnut smiled at him. "I'll wait for you, bro."

"No!" Her smile vanished. "I-I mean, don't worry about me," he amended. "Go and… ask Hiccup more about his bike," he suggested and that seemed to work as Ruffnut squealed and grabbed onto Hiccup's arm. She started asking a million questions a second as they all headed towards the cafeteria. He rushed back into Ms. Queen's office.

"Surely, I've already told you-"

"I'm Kevin," he corrected the common mistake.

"Oh," Atali let out, embarrassed. "I am so sorry."

"Its fine, its fine," Tuffnut said quickly, wanting to get to the point. "I was wondering about my classes-"

"Geography was the only exception," she interrupted. "I told you."

"I'm not here about my sister," hr assured her.

She gave him a look. "Then, what?"

"I was wondering about cosmetology classes."


	6. Chapter 6

**I am very sorry the poor people who read this story for taking forever to update this. I just wanna say that this will probably be the last update until summer. I hope you enjoy it, though.**

* * *

Hiccup yawned as he woke up the next morning. Having a house on the hill had its perks when you could wake up from sunlight instead of an alarm clock. But, as he closed his eyes, he imagined looking at his ceiling, which would be wood, not plaster, and hearing a different kind of alarm clock. Someone was on the roof, pounding on it until the dust fell off and he would wake up. And he would go outside into the nice, cold air of his island and be happily greeted by his best friend.

"Toothless," he whispered before opening his eyes and breaking the illusion. He sighed as he sat up in his bed. He put one foot down at a time and looked at his left one, just like he always did. His entire life he always felt like...it shouldn't be there? He didn't know. But, for him, it always felt wrong seeing it. He put that thought in the back of his mind, just like he did with all the others. The others that told him that he should be exploring, that he should have wind through his hair almost all the time, that there should be a dragon by his side, that he should be in the beautiful Isle of Berk, that he shouldn't be here. If he ever let those thoughts out, if he actually spoke them aloud, his father would find out and send him to a therapist. And he didn't want to go see a therapist, he was perfectly fine. He just liked the world in his mind better than this one.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Come in," he yelled.

Heather popped her head in with a smile. "I made breakfast!"

"I'm not really hungry," he said.

"I made omelets," she revised with a knowing smile.

"I've suddenly regained my appetite," he stated as he stood up, his mood changing drastically. He was glad Heather was here, he was sure he would've stayed in one of his moods had he been alone.

Walking downstairs, he wished he had been. His father was sitting at the table and watching the news as if all was right with the world.

As if they didn't fight last night.

He turned to head upstairs only to be stopped by Heather. "Sit," she said, gently, and he knew he wasn't getting out of this.

He sat down in the chair farthest from his father and Heather served him his omelet. She stayed standing in between them as she spoke. "So, I was thinking about plans for this weekend-"

"I'm busy," he and his father said in unison. They both briefly glanced at each other before looking away. Stoick kept his eyes glued to the tv and Hiccup chewed his omelet furiously.

Heather let out a nervous laugh. "Not too busy for me, I hope."

"I am," Hiccup said as his dad said, "Of course not." Stoick glared at him when he registered what he said. "Hiccup!"

"I really am busy," he defended.

"Don't raise your voice at me!"

"Don't raise yours at me!"

Stoick slammed his fist on the table. "Go to your room!"

Hiccup slammed his fork on the table. "Freaking gladly!" He stomped his way upstairs. He had to get ready for school anyway.

Stoick sighed before rubbing his temples. "What am I going to do with that boy," he muttered to himself. He turned to Heather with a small smile. She was already picking up the table. "I'll find some time off to do something with you, Heather. But, for now…" He stood up and brought his plate to the sink before bringing her into a hug. She returned it. "I'll see you tonight." He glanced at the stairs. "Take care of him."

"I will," she promised.

"Good." He gave her a pat on the back before grabbing his keys and heading towards the garage. She heard the engine start and disappear soon after. "It's safe to come down!" She heard a bit of shuffling and footsteps above her. Hiccup was probably getting ready for school. Something she should be doing. She decided to just let the plates soak for the day before heading upstairs.

When she came downstairs, she saw that the door to the garage was open. Did Uncle Stoick forget something? She walked over to it and almost screamed. "Hiccup," she yelled in anger. "You scared me half to death! How'd you even get in here?!"

"I took out the door knob," he explained as he checked his bike.

Heather looked down and, just like he said, door knob parts were at her feet along with a screwdriver. "Hiccup," she sighed. "Your dad said-"

"I really don't care what that man says right now, Heather." He got on his bike. "You coming or not?"

Heather was tempted to say yes so that he could calm down a bit, but… "Actually, I texted Fishlegs to come pick us up."

"Suit yourself," he said with no real malice. He started his bike, opened the garage gate, and drove off.

Heather sighed as she closed the gate. These two were a piece of work.

* * *

"So that's the painting, huh," Ruffnut asked.

"Yup," Astrid answered.

"Do you want bangs like that," Tuffnut asked, excited. "I can give you bangs like that!"

"I don't want bangs like that! I don't wanna look anything like her. Like that," she corrected. Because that was her, just drawn in some weird fetish way.

"I think you'd look cute with bangs," Ruffnut commented.

"I could probably make that braid if you grew your hair out," Tuffnut went on. "And I could make that outfit. Of course, with faux fur. Those boots would definitely be hard to make, but I could make them. And…" He trailed off once he realized the two girls were staring at him like he had grown a second head. "What?"

"Nothing," they said in unison while shaking off their expressions. "I gotta say, though," Ruffnut started. "He's really talented."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "That's the problem. Everyone here loves him, and so I'm the bad guy for fracturing his wrist."

"Sup, Dream Girl!"

Astrid rolled her eyes, not giving the person the time of day. "You'd think people would grow up."

"Yeah, it is kind of annoying," Tuffnut admitted.

"And it's not even us."

"I want to punch through the glass and crumble it up so badly, but that's vandalizing and I'm on my last straw for breaking the sta- Henry's wrist."

"He's Henry, now," Ruffnut smirked.

"I'm never going out with him, you know that right?"

"I second that," Tuffnut agreed.

Ruffnut glared at him as Astrid gave him a huge smile. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Sorry, sis, but if Astrid says she'll never date him, then it's her decision."

"Since when were you so noble?!"

"I don't care but I love it!" Astrid gave him a hug. "Thanks, Tuff!"

"No probs!"

"Hey guys!" They all turned to see Fishlegs and a glum Heather coming their way.

"Whoa, Heather, what's wrong," Astrid asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing. How'd yesterday go?"

Astrid, of course, noticed the change of subject but went along with it anyway. "It went ok. Their room finally looks like it belongs to them."

Heather gave her a tired smile. "That's good."

"Yeah…" The silence lingered as Fishlegs and the twins talked on about the painting.

"Sup, guys!" Someone broke the silence. Snotlout put an arm around Heather before fist-pumping Fishlegs. He looked at them all, frowning a bit. "Where's Hiccup?"

"Oh, you're not gonna wanna see him," Fishlegs started. "He's in a mood."

"What kind of mood?"

"Your 15th birthday level angry."

"Could you stop using that as a level?!" He hated it when people brought that up!

"Wait, what happened on your 15th birthday," Ruffnut asked, intrigued.

"Nothing!" He turned to Heather. "What happened?'

Heather sighed. "Another fight with his dad." The boys groaned. "This was worse." They groaned louder. "Stoick tried taking away his bike."

Snotlout nodded. "Yeah, that settles it. Boys night. I'll text Hiccup." He took out his phone. "So, you brought him here, Fishface?"

"Actually…"

"Stoick locked the bike in the garage and he took apart the doorknob to get to it," Heather explained.

Snotlout nodded. "Yeah, Boys Weekend sounds about right," he said aloud before texting.

"... Does this happen alot," Astrid asked to no one in particular.

Heather sighed. "Yup."

"What exactly happened," Snotlout asked while putting his phone away.

* * *

 _"What's this," his father bellowed as he entered the house and shoved his phone at Hiccup._

 _Hiccup, who had been watching cartoons while doing homework, paused his show and looked at the screen. The headline read, "The Horrendous Haddock At It Again!" Hiccup almost face-palmed at the name resurfacing again. Sure, it was his middle name, but that's not what he wanted his stage name to be. "Look, dad, it was just a couple of stunts. Nothing to worry about."_

 _"It's everything to worry about! Every time I think you're over this! Why can't you follow the simplest orders?!"_

 _"I'm not one of your office people, dad! You can't order me around!"_

 _"You're my son! You're supposed to obey me!"_

 _"That's a dog! I'm not a dog, dad!"_

 _Stoick was fuming by now, but that didn't matter to Hiccup. He had seen that face too many times to care anymore. "You're going to stop riding that bike," he said, low and menacing. "Starting now, I don't even want to see you near that bike!"_

 _Hiccup's entire world came crashing down and in a few short seconds, there was nothing to stop him. "You can't ban me from my motorcycle! I bought it, not you! I worked hard for that bike!"_

 _"You still live under my roof! No son of mine is going to endanger himself for some stupid fun!" For a moment, Hiccup's world came into view. Maybe all his dad was worried about was his safety. "The entire city will think that if I'm an unfit father, I'm an unfit mayor!"_

 _The world was gone and so was Hiccup. "So you're not worried about me?! Only your reputation?!"_

 _"Of course I'm worried about you!"_

 _"That's not what you said!"_

 _"I don't have time for this," he waved Hiccup off, not knowing how much that hurt him. He brought out a small box from a bag Hiccup barely noticed. "You're gonna learn some respect!" He headed towards the garage door and Hiccup followed._

 _"What are you doing?" He better not do anything to his bike!_

 _Stoick entered the garage and came out with a screwdriver. He kneeled down next to the door and started taking the doorknob apart. Hiccup watched for a few seconds. "Dad, what are you doing?" He opened the box and Hiccup analyzed it for the first time. If his dad finished putting that on, you would need a key to be able to open the door. Hiccup's eyes widened in panic. "Dad, what are you doing," he yelled, trying to get past him and to his bike. His dad pushed him back a bit to finish the job but Hiccup kept going at it. "No, you cant-"_

 _Push_

 _"You cant-"_

 _Push_

 _"Dad, for once in your life would you please just listen to me-"_

 _This time, Stoick pushed him harder than he ever had before. "That's enough!" He stood above a fallen Hiccup. "You are a Haddock! We strive to succeed! Not play around with hunks of metal!"_

 _He slammed the door closed and Hiccup felt himself completely break. "If I'm such a disappointment why'd you fight so hard to keep me!" He stood up and stormed his way to the stairs…_

 _...Where a frightened Heather stood. She looked between the both of them and was about to say something when Hiccup just stormed past her. He didn't leave his room after that._

* * *

Heather shook her head at the memory. "Let's just say I hope I never see them fight like that again."

"That bad," Snotlout asked.

She nodded.

"I don't get it," Ruffnut said, her arms crossed. "Is that not normal behavior between sons and dads?"

Fishlegs gave her a look while Snotlout looked away. "Your dad's are supposed to love you," Fishlegs explained as if it were obvious.

"Or make you seem like you're never good enough," Snotlout added.

"Never felt any of those," Tuffnut said.

"We've never met our dads," Astrid clarified.

"Lucky you," Snotlout muttered and Fishlegs hit his arm. "What?!"

He only rolled his eyes before before hearing his phone ding. It was a text from Hiccup. "Hiccup's in the art room."

It was Snotlout who ran towards it first before everyone, even the twins, followed suit. "I guess we're going to the art room," Astrid muttered. She gave one last glare to the painting before following the others.

Snotlout barged into the room first, ready to cheer up his cousin, but, upon entering, he only saw him drawing while a surprised Ms. Gerund looked at him. She glared as she took off her headphones. "Do not slam my door open," she seethed.

Snotlout looked down, sheepish. "Yes, Ms.," he agreed and she happily put on her headphones. He walked quickly over to Hiccup and plopped down right next to him. "So…" Hiccup took a glance at him. "We're having a guys night at Fishlegs' tonight. Heather told us what happened. Are you ok?"

"Yeah," he finally spoke. "Just gotta wait for my dad to get his head out of his ass."

Snotlout snorted. "You and me both." He took a peek as Hiccup kept on sketching, his arm hiding the page. "Whacha drawin'?" Hiccup took a glance at him before removing his arm and revealing a sketch of a woman with a heart shaped face and a beautiful, wide eyes. It was his aunt Val, Hiccup's mom. "Whoa! It looks just like her!"

"It's for class," he explained. "The project now is something you love. I'm gonna paint my mom."

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Of course you're not gonna paint me! I'm offended."

Hiccup let out a chuckle while shaking his head. "I'll paint you when the topic is the most annoying cousin." He full out laughed when Snotlout jokingly punched him.

"So, how long it guy's night gonna be? How many days you gonna need?"

Hiccup pretended to think about it. "I'll say...a month." He gave him a smile.

"Thinking about Ms. Ingerman's cooking makes me wanna stay for a month, too."

"My mom is great at cooking," Fishlegs commented, causing them to scream.

"How long have you been standing there?!"

"Since you insulted your dad."

"It's not an insult if it's the truth," Hiccup joked.

"Ha," Snotlout let out.

Fishlegs smiled before ushering everyone else in.

"We couldn't come in here before because…?" Astrid hated being told what to do, especially if it involved that stalker.

"I told you already," Heather whispered. "They were talking."

Astrid still had no idea what the hell that meant. Just 'cause they were talking didn't mean they couldn't go in.

"They get deep, ya know," she explained.

So it was personal stuff. She guessed she could understand that. She walked over to where everyone was sitting and plopped herself next to Heather. The conversation stayed on the topic of football. There was a game coming in another week and they teased Henry about him having to come. She expected one of the twins to ask Henry what had really happened, but even they stayed quiet about it. Instead, Ruffnut talked quietly to her brother, asking him where he was this morning. Astrid leaned in to their conversation. "I wanna know that too."

"A guy can come to school early if he wants," he defended himself. "I don't see a rule about it being forbidden."

"It's kind of a no-no for you, though," Ruffnut said. "You love sleeping in."

"I didn't feel like sleeping in today." Ruffnut gasped and Tuff rolled his eyes. "You are being overdramatic, my darling sister."

"And you, my darling brother, are not being dramatic enough."

"Au contraire, mon ami, I'm dramatic about everything."

"Then, pray tell, mon frére, why thou hast woken in the early dawn."

"Oh, ma soeur, I tell you nothing for thou hast yet to ease thine suspicion."

"Could you two, like, not," Astrid butted in before they could go all out. "You guys give me a headache when you talk like that."

"I was not aware of that," Ruff said with a smirk. "Were you aware of that, dear brother?"

"I was not, dear sister," he agreed. "I was not, indeed."

Astrid rolled her eyes and groaned. "I'm going to kill you both-"

"With an axe," they finished for her.

Tuff laughed when she groaned again. At least they were off his back about it. He'd like to keep his cosmetology class to himself for a while.

The three sat back and listened in on the other half of the conversation. "-and then you blow the airhorn when I make the winning touchdown," Snotlout explained.

"Or me," Fishlegs defended.

"Ha," Snotlout laughed. "It's gonna be me! It's always me. The coach loves me."

"Coach Belch hates you," Heather laughed.

"He secretly loves me! We wouldn't be winning without me!"

"Oh, please," Fishlegs chuckled. "The team would still be fine without you."

"Doubtful," Snotlout remarked while pretending to check his nails. "I'm the best on the team."

"You sure are, Snotlout," Hiccup said, a small smirk on his face. "The absolute best!"

"And don't you forget it!"

They all jumped when the bell rang. Heather groaned while slamming her head on the table. "Why did they give me aquatic science for my science elective!"

"Aquatic science is easy, Heather, you should know it," Hiccup commented, almost laughing at her expression.

"Not everyone cares about stupid fish, Hiccup!" She let out a huff before following Astrid to the door. She gave Stormfly a pat on the head. "Lets go. I hate that class," She complained. "I get 'birthday level' angry when I don't know an answer! I don't know how to ask for help!"

Astrid laughed. "Same! I don't really know what birthday level angry is, but I'm pretty sure it's bad."

"Oh, trust me, It is. Even I don't know the full details. I got what I could out of Fishlegs and Hiccup and Snotlout hate talking about it. It's now a level, though. To Fishlegs, anyway. But it's a complete taboo to actually talk about it."

Astrid let out a whistle. "I guess it really is that bad. Is that why they're so close?"

"According to Fishlegs, yes. When I got here, they seemed inseparable. I was really surprised when he told me they used to hate each other."

"No way?!" She never would've guessed. "They act like they've been best friends forever!"

"I know! They used to absolutely hate each other! To the point that apparently their dads had to force them to hang out!" She opened the door with a laugh. "Apparently, Hiccup punched him in the face once, knocking him out."

"You're kidding?! He looks like a simple pebble would bruise him!"

"Right," Heather laughed. "And he was a lot skinnier back then too. Not many people talk about what happened, but there was apparently a fight. And their dads locked then in a room together."

"Bad idea!"

"That's what everyone else thought, too!" She smiled fondly, thinking of the two. "But, later that same day, people found them at an ice cream shop, laughing together. I would love to know what actually happened. I probably could, too, if I asked anyone who was there. But I respect them too much to hear it from anyone but them." Another bell rang and Heather sighed. "That's the minute bell. I'll see you later, Astrid. It'd be best if you ran. Coach Queen hates it when her students are late."

"Another Queen?!"

"They surround this school, to be honest. If you meet a Mendin Queen, she happens to be the Counsler's daughter."

"She's the softball team captain."

"Yeah, the Queens rule this school. You gotta start running now. You don't wanna be later than you'll already be."

"Good point. Later Heather!" She tugged on Stormfly's leash and ran.


	7. Chapter 7

**Lol, I lied to you guys and myself! Here's the next chapter, I don't know when the next one's coming out. But I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Hiccup hadn't said a word during lunch so far, which suited Astrid just fine as they all continued to talk. "-and so I was thinking we could all go to Draco's," Snotlout suggested. "And we can show you what makes this little city awesome."

"What's Draco's," Ruffnut asked, plopping a grape in her mouth.

"It's this amazing Ice Cream Shop and it serves the best Ice Cream," Heather explained excitedly.

"They even have the weirdest names for their flavors," Fishlegs laughed.

"My favorite is Monstrous Mint Chocolate," Snotlout said smugly.

"Of course it is," Hiccup said from behind his sketchbook.

Astrid took a glance at him before turning to Heather. "Where'd they come up with the names?"

"Yours truly," She smiled proudly while gesturing to Hiccup.

Astrid refrained from rolling her eyes as Hiccup didn't even glance up from his sketchbook. She was really curious as to what he was drawing, but asking him to show her would mean actually talking to him and she refused to do that.

"I can't wait to get a scoop of Grape Gronckle!"

"I'm gonna get Razorwhip Rocky Road!"

"What are you gonna get, Hiccup," Tuffnut asked him, eagerly waiting for his answer.

Hiccup didn't answer though. "He'll probably get Night Fury Fudge," Snotlout answered instead.

"Actually," Hiccup finally decided to speak. "I won't be getting anything. I'm busy this weekend."

"With what?!"

"So you weren't kidding this morning," Heather asked. "I thought you just wanted to get away from your dad."

"That's just a plus," he shrugged. "But I really am busy."

"Again, with what," Snotlout repeated. "You didn't tell me you had any plans."

"I didn't," He asked in a high voice. Astrid wanted to chuckle. Heather was right. He's a terrible liar. "I'm pretty sure I did?"

"Oh my gods, you lying shit," Snotlout groaned. "You do realize we can all tell when you're lying, right!?"

He finally set his sketchbook down and held up his hands in defense. "Ok, ok. So I didn't tell you guys. But that still doesn't change the fact that I already have plans."

"Well," Fishlegs started. "What are your plans?"

Henry opened his mouth before closing it. "Look," he said, exasperated. "They're just plans! I have...errands I need to run, things I need to do."

"Like what," Snotlout asked, unimpressed.

"Just… things," he finished, lamely. "But they're important! To me, at least."

"Don't sweat it, cuz," Snotlout waved it off. "Meet us at the cliff if you have time."

"Will do," he promised before picking up his sketchbook. Again. Astrid wondered if all this boy did was draw.

"How long have you known how to draw?" Astrid's head snapped towards Tuffnut, who was watching Henry, completely entranced at what he was drawing.

Henry took a curious glance at him before going back to drawing. Astrid was about to yell at him for not answering, but he spoke before she could. "Since I could hold a pencil in my hand, I guess. I think I have everything I've drawn in my attic."

"You think you could draw me," Tuff asked, eagerly.

Henry looked skeptical. "I dunno, I'm not good with faces." Astrid almost snorted at the answer. What the hell did he call that portrait during art?! The hurt look on Tuff's face almost made her yell at him, too. But, once again, he spoke. "But I'll see what I can do." He sent a smile to an excited looking Tuff and Astrid swore Tuff looked like he wanted to cry.

"Hey, Astrid," a voice with an accent said. Astrid turned her head to find a blue-eyed brunette standing behind her. "The team and I were thinking of having an unscheduled practice after school. You in?"

Astrid gaped like a fish. This was the first person today, other than her friends, to not call her Dream Girl. She wasn't even aware that Minden Queen knew her name. "Uh, um, yeah! Totally! At the diamond, right?"

Mending chuckled. "Where else?" She looked to the rest of the group. "Hi, everybody!"

"Hi, Minden," they all greeted, back, Snotlout the loudest. "How's my girl," He finished with a grin.

Mending only laughed and shook her head before walking away.

Astrid turned to him with a glare. "What the hell was that?!" As far as she knew, he was still with Mala.

"That," Heather started. "Is the only girl in this school he actually respects."

"I always thought it was more like an unrequited crush," Fishlegs quipped.

"Why don't you two worry about your own love lives," he seethed.

"Or lack, thereof," Hiccup muttered, causing Snotlout to laugh and reach for a high five while the two just blushed red. He gave the two a smug grin when Hiccup gave it to him.

"Snotlout!" The smug grin fell as his face turned pale. They all turned to the source of the shout. It was Mala. She wore a black, sleeveless collared shirt with gold buttons that matched her golden hair. She looked completely radiant today, wearing her eyeliner and her cheeks a hint of pink, and Astrid wondered why. "How are you on this fine day," she asked, before sitting next to him, smiling brightly.

Snotlout went paler but Mala didn't seem to notice. "I-I'm good! How 'bout you?"

"Wonderful," she announced, delighted. She looked at him with a smile for a few seconds before having it falter a bit. Astrid could tell she was expecting something, but what? "Don't you have something to say to me," she asked him, encouraging some words.

Snotlout opened his mouth before closing it. "You look nice today," he complimented, it sounding more a question.

She forced her smile to widen. "You don't have anything else to say?"

They all watched him, wondering what he would say next. Though, his next words were a complete surprise. Especially to Hiccup. "You know what," he let out with confidence. "I actually do have something to say to you." He turned to them all, biting his lip, before turning back to her. "Can we go somewhere more private?"

"O-ok," Mala agreed, confused. They both got up and left the cafeteria.

"He's gonna do it," Hiccup said once they were gone. "Odin, help us, he's gonna do it!" He set his sketchbook down before crossing his arms and putting a fist to his mouth.

Heather looked at him, confused. "Do what?" The look he gave her made her realize the obvious. "Oh! Oh, no! Why today?!"

"I told him next Wednesday," Hiccup cried.

"Wait, wait, what is he doing," Fishlegs asked. Heather punched his arm before giving him a stern look. "Oh," he realized. "Oh," he yelled louder, realizing something else. "Should we stop him?!"

"Wait, wait," Ruff started.

"Stop what," Tuff finished.

"He's going to break up with her," Heather cried. "Today of all days!"

Hiccup stood up, hesitated, and then sat down again. He repeated the process.

"I don't get it, what's today," Astrid asked.

"It's her birthday," Hiccup answered. The small little detail finally said out loud made him finally get up without hesitation and run for the cafeteria doors. The rest of the gang followed suit.

Hiccup stopped in his tracks when he turned the corner almost crashing into Snotlout.

He looked at them all with wide eyes for a second before calling his features into a huge grin. "I did it!"

"You did," Hiccup asked.

"And she didn't get mad!"

"She didn't?"

"No," he assured, joyously. "In fact, she said she understood!"

"She did?"

"Yup! I'm a free man, guys!"

Everyone stood there, not really sure what to do. Hiccup took a glance at the others, who only stared at Snotlout. He sighed before smiling. "Let's go celebrate with some expired milk!" He turned to Heather with a forced smile and gave her a nudge with his elbow.

She got the idea. "Oh! Right! We should all go celebrate," she turned to the others with a forced smile of her own.

Fishlegs got the idea. "With expired milk," he repeated.

Astrid got the idea, though she wasn't happy about it. "Sounds like a plan."

But, the twins?

"Celebrate," asked Ruffnut.

"I thought we were gonna stop him," Tuff reminded.

"Ya know, cause it was her birthday!"

Hiccup face-palmed the same time Astrid did while Snotlout's confusion turned to realization. He turned Hiccup towards him. "It was her Birthday?!"

"No," he answered, his voice a little high.

And Snotlout knew his answer. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I thought you knew!"

"I didn't!"

"That's why I said to do it Wednesday!"

"You never said it was because it was her birthday!"

"Ok, calm down," Heather yelled, getting in between them. She turned to Snotlout. "Everything should be ok. She said she understood." She looked between the two. "If we all know Mala, then she actually was ok with it."

"Still, breaking up with a girl on her Birthday," Tuff started.

"That's a pretty dick move," Ruffnut finished.

"But she's going to be fine," Heather pressed on, now talking to the twins. "Mala's a strong woman. I mean, c'mon! She was probably hoping Snotlout would break up with her."

"I know I would," Astrid commented, causing the whole group to snicker as Snotlout glared at her.

"That's it," he dramatically yelled. "I'm done with hot blondes! They're all mean!"

"Well, that's not really gonna be a problem for you since Minden isn't exactly blonde," Hiccup gave him a smirk and received a punch in the arm in return.

"Shut up!"

"Hey, Astrid, where's Stormfly," Tuff asked. Astrid looked down to her left and realized that, no, she was not sitting there like the usual obedient dog she was. She looked to Henry and she wasn't next to him either. "Shit," she muttered before running for the table. The others followed and were surprised at what they saw.

Stormfly was on top of the table, destroying everyone's food as she jumped up and down.

"Stormfly!" Astrid got her off the table just as she was about ot jump again. "Bad dog! What is wrong with you this week?!"

"Excuse me, Miss!" Astrid groaned before turning to see a blonde woman with her hair in a fishtail. Atali Queen, if remembered correctly. "Astrid Hofferson, correct?"

"Yes," she admitted.

"Can you please tell me this dog's job?"

She looked to the twins, who looked just as concerned as her, before looking back to Ms. Queen. "She, uh, can tell when I'm about to have an episode."

"May I ask when was the last time you had one?"

"Um, I dont- I don't know, Ms," she lied.

"Well, I want some proof that this dog is allowed to be here and that she's still able to do her job."

"Bu-but-"

"No buts," she interrupted. She gave Astrid a sad smile. "It's nothing personal, Astrid. But this is the second time your dog has wreaked havoc in the school, and this time without your...help." She noticed her take a glance back at her and instantly knew she had glanced at Henry. Ugh! That stupid toothpick! Ms. Queen continued. "I'll need some proof by the end of the month. Stormfly is welcomed here until then, as long as she doesn't cause any trouble. Understood?"

Astrid nodded, her hand rubbing Stormfly's head.

Atali gave the girl a reassuring smile. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Until then, keep her on her leash."

"Will do, Ms. Queen." And with that she was gone. Astrid kneeled down on her knees, looking at her beautiful dog. "What's wrong with you girl? Why are you suddenly acting like this?"

"Maybe it's because she's in a new place." Fishlegs suggested. "She's trying to get familiar with everything!"

"Hi Minden," Snotlout yelled excitedly as the girl ran over to them.

"HI, Snotlout," she gave him a small smile before turning to Astrid. "Astrid, are you ok? I saw you talking to my mom. I hope she didn't intimidate you too much."

"No, no," She assured her as she got up."I just...I gotta go call my mom." She brought out her phone and headed for the exit of the cafeteria. "I'll see you after school," she assured before turning to the twins. "I'll see you guys at home."

"See ya, Astrid," Ruffnut said, her features not happy at all. She watched her friend leave the cafeteria with a pit in her stomach. "This is not good at all."

"It's really not," Tuff agreed.

"Why," Snotlout asked. "All she has to do is prove her dog can still help her."

"Astrid hasn't had an episode in years," Ruffnut explained. "She brings Stormfly to school for emotional reasons."

"Maybe I can talk to my mom about it," Minden suggested.

Tuff shook his head. "She hates it when people feel pity for her."

"She'd rather die," Ruffnut agreed.

"It's just a dog," Snotlout laughed.

"Snotlout," Hiccup warned.

"What?! It's the truth!"

"She's not just a dog, Snotlout," Minden pointed out, her voice as calm and collected as her mom's. "She's a companion. Many people turn to animals for comfort we cant get from our own kind. Myself included." She put a hand to her chest with a small smile. "I don't know what I'd do without my Baby."

Snotlout shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed. "I've never had a pet before."

"But haven't you ever had something so dear to your heart you'd go crazy if you ever lost it?"

Snotlout thought back at a beautiful figurine with it's own little pedestal in his room. That was the most important thing to him, the thing that had changed him completely. "Well, yeah, but…"

"I think he gets it now, Minden," Hiccup interrupted their conversation. "He's never had a pet before. He doesn't know."

"You've never had one either," Snotlout pointed out, offended.

"I have no use for a pet, Snotlout." He gave him a huge, lopsided grin. "I got you!"

That caused the group to start laughing and Minden to giggle. "Shut up everybody," he muttered, offended.

"Ah, Snotlout, you know I'm joking." He put his arm around him, giving him a side-hug. "Hug me back."

"No."

"Hug me back!"

"No!"

" _Hug me back_!"

" _Fine_!" Snotlout begrudgingly put an arm around him too. "Ok, we're done," he pushed him away after a second. Hiccup only laughed as Snotlout turned back to Minden. "Hey, are you doing anything tonight?"

Minden looked surprised. "Yes, actually I am. I'm going to Mala's birthday ceremony. She's turning eighteen today." She gave him a slight glare. "You should know this."

Snotlout realized his mistake. He had just broken up with Mala. No one knew yet. Especially not Minden, her cousin, who would probably hate him now. "Right, right! Uh, you know, I wasn't invited. It's a family thing is what I heard."

"Weird. I thought she would have at least invited you." Oh, good, he was right about the family thing! "She seems pretty serious about you."

"Yeah, I don't know! The relationship doesn't seem to be going anywhere."

"Oh," she nodded her head in understanding. "Mala's like that. She likes things the way they are. She doesn't really try anything new. You should break up with her if you feel that way. She'd understand. And, honestly, it does get pretty annoying when you're all she talks about during Queen Gatherings."

"You wouldn't be mad if I broke up with her?"

"Of course not. I know Mala. She won't let it get to her."

Snotlout smiled. "Ya know, it's great you think that 'cause-"

"Ok, Snotlout," Hiccup interrupted, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Why don't you help me clean up this mess?!"

"What?! I was just about to-"

"Not now," he whispered harshly before picking up a tray and handing to him. "Later Minden!"

"Later, Hiccup. Snotlout." She gave them a wave before walking to her own table with her own friends.

Meanwhile…

"-and so my uncle is going to take me to the doctors this sunday since I told her about the plans with you guys."

"You're going to be fine," Heather tried to assure.

"Yeah," Ruffnut agreed. "I'm sure the doctor will give you an exception."

"Uh, my dad's a doctor," Fishlegs informed. "There's not really exceptions unless it critica- Ow!"

"Fishlegs, you're not helping," Heather seethed after stomping on his foot. "Go help the guys!" And he did. She turned back to Astrid. "Even if you can't take Stormfly to school, you'll still be able to see her at home. It's not like she's going anywhere."

"Yeah, I know that," Astrid confirmed. "But...Stormfly has been by my side for as long as I can remember." She knelt down to be able to hug her. "I don't know what I'd do without her."

Ruff and Heather glanced at each other. Heather gave her a look that told her to talk to her. She had barely met Astrid, but this girl had known her for who knows how long.

Ruff got the idea. "Look, Astrid. If Stormfly can't come to school with you anymore, I'm pretty sure Tuffnut doesn't mind being a replacement."

"I don't mind being a what?!" Tuffnut called from the now clean table.

Astrid started to chuckle, which caused Ruff to chuckle, and then Heather. Soon, all the girls were laughing. Astrid stood up, smiling, and brought Ruff into a hug. "You always know what to say.°

"Duh! I'm awesome that way!"

Astrid let out another laugh before breaking the hug. They all went over to the table and Astrid gave them all a sad smile. °Sorry about your lunches, guys.°

"Don't sweat it," Fishlegs dismissed. "It was school lunch, anyway."

"Yeah,° Snotlout agreed. "Not to bash on my team, but this school can afford to add some flavor to its food."

"I've eaten worse things,° Tuffnut agreed.

Astrid snorted at the truth of that. He definitely had and she had been there for them all.

"S-so," Hiccup started, hesitantly. "Wh-what's gonna happen with Stormfly?°

"I'm going to the doctors this Sunday," she answered without thinking. Great, now she's talked to him! She turned to Fishlegs to finish her sentence. "They're going to check if I'm still...sick? I don't even know what's wrong with me. They've never diagnosed it."

"Well, what happens," Heather asked.

Astrid scrunched her nose. "I don't even know. I black out for a second and when I finally come to, everyone's surrounding me asking questions."

Ruffnut nodded. "It's true. She never remembers. One time when we were, like, eleven, a fire started in the kitchen."

"It wasn't even that big," Tuff continued. "But she saw it, froze, Stormfly started barking rapidly and, before anyone could reach her, she started going crazy."

"She started yelling for everyone to get to the buckets."

"And then asked what the hell Stormfly was."

"As if she didn't recognize her."

"I don't remember that," Astrid scrunched her nose.

"We know you don't," they said in unison.

"Didn't that used to happen to you," Snotlout asked Hiccup, who had already brought out his sketchbook.

"Nope," he answered, shortly, and kept on drawing. After a moment of silence, Snotlout quickly changed conversation. He let it float around him, not really paying attention. What Astrid had said, it did use to happen to him. And, sometimes, it still did. He thanked every god in valhalla that it had never happened in public, only in the safety of his own home where no one was there to witness it and he was on his own until he came to.

Hopefully that never changed.


	8. Chapter 8

_He looked around him. It was night and he could see the silhouettes of trees and bodies on the floor. They were humans and...dragons. He recognized Snotlout with...Hookfang? Fishlegs was with some brown one. Meatlug, if he remembered. The twins were with their own dragon with two heads, Barf and Belch. And another body that laid on the floor, completely turned away from him and snuggled into her dragon. But he recognized that blonde braid anyway. It was Astrid. Tomorrow they would face Viggo. He turned back to his dad with a smile. "What else was she like?" They had been talking about his mom for a few minutes now. Burning Midnight, as his dad had called it. Telling stories of great people before a big fight._

 _"She was an amazing warrior," his father bellowed with pride, the braids on his beard swinging as he laughed and the fire reflecting from his helmet. He could see grey hairs growing. "Ah, you should've seen her with an axe! Had all the grace of a Valkyrie and all the strength of Thor himself!" Hiccup loved his dad's smile right then and there. He smiled so brightly and proud that his eyes were shining with an never forgotten youth. "I knew I had to have her the second I saw her fight." He smiled fondly at the fish he was cooking in the fire. "She would have been so proud of you."_

 _"She would?" Hiccup looked up from his own fish, looking at his dad._

 _He only smiled at his fish. "She would," he assured._

 _"Do you miss her?"_

 _"Of course! Not a day goes by that I don't think about her and how we would be now. How she would be with you. How different everything would be. I loved her with all my heart. I just wished I had saved her in time."_

 _All his life, Hiccup had never seen his dad cry. Sure, he had been told stories about when he was found alive after the Green Death or small snippets of when his mom had died, but he had never seen it himself. Until now. He watched as a single tear fell from his dad's eye. "Dad, I-"_

 _"Don't," he interrupted. "Don't apologize for the dragons." He wiped the tear away. "Everything's already been forgiven." He smiled at him. "You made sure of that. I really am proud to call you my son."_

 _"And I'm proud to call you my dad."_

* * *

He woke himself up, laughing. When he opened his eyes, he expected to see Toothless in his normal spot. Instead, he woke up to an unfamiliar place. The walls were yellow and made up of something shiny. There were chests that had small rectangles with handles on them. And there was this weird black box on the other side of whatever this place was that had a shiny layer and weird dots on the bottom. He sat up and looked around.

He saw Snotlout sleeping on the floor inside of some weird fluffy thing. And he saw Fishlegs sleeping on a bed, but it was one he had never seen before. It was...fluffy and huge and didn't have a single plaque of wood on it. He blinked a few times before looking around. There were things hanging on the wall. He slowly got up from the floor and realized that all he had was a single pillow. Just the way he liked it.

He walked over the the closest thing on the wall. It was some sort of...painting of him, Snotlout, and Fishlegs. But, it looked so smooth. There was no texture at all. And why was he standing with Snotlout so happily. He understood Fishlegs, but how was he convinced to get a painting with Snotlout? And in such a weird media?

He jumped when a door barged open and saw an elder woman with curly blonde hair. "Oh, Henry! You're awake! Good! I just finished making breakfast!"

"Thanks, Mrs. Ingerman," he said out of habit. And, suddenly, everything snapped in place. The walls were painted yellow, those weird chests were drawers, the black box was a TV, that fluffy thing was a sleeping bag, Fishlegs' bed was how they made beds now, and the the painting was actually a photo. And Toothless didn't exist. "I'll wake up the guys," he assured her.

"Oh, thank you, dear! Hurry down before my husband eats all the pancakes!" She left the door wide open as she left. He smiled before turning to his friends, a vicious idea coming to mind. He grabbed one end of Snotlout's sleeping bag and pulled. "Dragon attack!"

"WHAAA!" Snotlout woke up yelling, causing Fishlegs to wake up yelling.

"Dragon attack," he yelled before running out the door, a shoe barely missing him. He laughed as he made it downstairs and into the kitchen. "Morning Mr. Ingerman," he said to a short, overweight man as he sat down. Not a second later, a plate of pancakes was set in front of him.

"Eat, child," she ordered. "You're a twig!"

"I have some muscle," he half-heartedly argued. He flexed for good measure, causing both adults to laugh. Then he reached for the syrup and drowned his pancakes. He was on his second bite when he felt something hit the back of his head. He looked around with a pancake filled smile and saw both Snotlout and Fishlegs coming over, a shirt now behind the chair he sat in.

"You gotta stop waking us up like that," Snotlout yelled in an angry tone as he sat down. "Thank you Mrs. Ingerman," he yelled in the same tone as she set a plate down for him.

"Honestly, I'm going to fall out of my bed one day," Fishlegs complained. His mom served him a plate with a kiss to his forehead. "Thanks, mom," he said before reaching for the syrup.

Hiccup handed it to him with a laugh. "It's fun waking you guys up that way!"

"No it's not," they yelled in unison.

Hiccup let out a laugh before Mrs. Ingerman told them stop messing around and finish their food.

He never really had any alarms on his phone. He liked waking up to the sunlight. So he would turn off his phone when he went to sleep. After finally getting dressed with some spare clothes from last guy's night, he finally turned it on. And was not prepared for the influx of text messages coming his way. There was one from an unknown number, which he found soon enough was Tuffnut's. He saved the contact. Then there were three from Heather. All were asking him if he had spoken to his dad. And the other thirteen were all from his dad asking him where he was, then threatening him to come home, and, finally, the last one telling him to just do what he wanted in all caps. He glared as he read through the texts again.

Why was his dad like this? Why did he have to belittle him every chance he got? Why was he always barking out insults? Why did he always think he was going to screw up his life? Why couldn't he see life from his point of view? Why couldn't he be more supportive? Why couldn't he just be how he was in his dreams?! In his dreams, he was proud of him, in his dreams, he encouraged him, in his dreams he loved him! Why couldn't his dad just love him?!

He turned the screen off and shoved the phone in his backpack. "I'm going guys," he yelled to the others, not really caring if they heard or not. He ran downstairs, said bye to the Ingermans, got on his bike, and rode off.

It wasn't long before a white van started riding next to him. "Son of a," he muttered when he saw the blue insignia. He looked around, seeing that they were the only ones on this road. The light ahead was yellow and he was going to make it. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and, before he knew it, his engine roared. He opened his eyes after a second. The stoplight was gone. He sighed in relief before glancing back. He had sighed to soon. "You've got to be kidding me," he yelled to no one in particular. The stupid van ran a red light!? "I'm not about to become someone's stupid scoop again," he muttered to himself before speeding up. Why couldn't these people just leave him alone?! If he made it to the school and got inside before they caught up, then they wouldn't be able to find him and would be escorted out by security. He sped up with his new found plan.

* * *

Astrid stretched as she made her way to the entrance of the school. Today was uneventful so far. Besides her mom trying to make pancakes in the morning leading to Aunty Thor taking over once the smoke alarm went off. And when Aunty Thor explained to her and Ruffnut that Tuff went to school early. She wasn't going to pretend that they didn't notice. Sooner or later he was going to have to tell them what was going on. So, her morning had been a bit eventful. She just hoped it would be a normal day.

As she was about to walk through the entrance, the gods decided to squish her hopes. She was trampled by some idiot trying to walk in just as she was. "Get off me," she yelled, pushing the person, hard. When she got up and dusted herself, she was met with none other than Henry Haddock being licked to death by her dog. Again. She sighed while rolling her eyes. "Do you not know how to walk or what?!"

"Nope," he replied as he tried to push Stormfly away. "I'm just a poor six-month old trapped in a 17 year old's body."

She glared at him as she yanked Stormfly away from him. "Keep it up with the sass, Henry. I don't mind breaking your wrist next time." She turned away from him and quickly went inside, wondering if she had just heard a camera go off or not. She shook it off, it was probably in her head. She headed to the gym for Softball.

Thanks to stupid Henry, she would be missing a few games at the start of the season to help set up the stupid play, which she still hadn't heard anything about since she talked with Heather for the first time. She wondered what the play would even be. If it was something the twins knew, they would definitely try out for it. They were secretly huge thespians. Actually, if one heard them talking to each other for a good amount of time, one could definitely tell that they knew more than they let on.

Ruffnut loved Shakespeare! Though she talked about being confident and needing only her brother, she secretly, not really, wished for a handsome fellow to sweep her off her feet. She wanted something that didn't end in tragedy, like Romeo and Juliet.

Tuffnut was more of a modern guy, loving things like Little Shop of Horrors or The Heathers. Though, she did hear him quoting Shakespeare every now and then. She wasn't really sure where his love-life lied at the moment, but she could assume it was on hold.

She wished Ruffnut had taken softball with her instead of wrestling. Then they could talk about it now. Even as they ran laps. She and Ruffnut loved to run and talk back in the parks in New York. This one mile track wouldn't have been so hard.

And she wished she had a morning class with at least one of them. Then she wouldn't have to suffer through Henry's phone constantly ringing today in art. Instead, she could be talking with Tuffnut about...whatever, really. He blabbered on about whatever he wanted. There was no real subject with the guy. Even though she had known him for years, she really didn't know much about him. It was usually her and Ruff that talked. "Huh," she said to herself. Maybe him leaving early to school had something to do with something he liked. She was definitely going to ask about it during lunch.

Speaking of lunch, the bell finally rang. She threw her back pack over her shoulders and walked to the cafeteria, not even caring to try and walk with Hiccup, who she was sure was behind her.

On the way there, people kept staring at her. She honestly had to glare at a few people long enough for the them to finally look away, uncomfortable. She didn't know why they felt uncomfortable. They started staring first.

When she made it to the group, they were all huddled up together, watching something on Heather's phone.

"Whacha guys looking at," she asked, trying to look over their shoulders.

"Astrid," they all yelled, jumping away from each other. Heather turned her phone off and shoved it in her pocket. "How's your day been," she asked, hastily.

"It's been…" She tried to find a word, but their nervous faces made her stop. What exactly were they watching on that phone. "It's been ok," she answered as she sat down. She looked at them all before landing her eyes on Tuffnut. "So, Tuff. Where were you this morning?"

"Wha- Huh?! Wh-where was I," he asked, his eyes as wide as a deer caught in headlights. "I don't know! Huh?! What about you? Where were you this morning?!"

Astrid gave him an unimpressed look before turning to Ruff. "Has he told you yet."

"Not a word," she answered. "I even put him in a headlock! He wouldn't budge!"

They both scooted in on him. "We're gonna have to interrogate him soon."

"Agreed."

He laughed. "Interrogate! I have nothing to hide," he announced proudly.

"Then where were you this morning?"

"I have one thing to hide," he announced less proudly.

"Tell us," they all but yelled.

He shook his head and stubbornly crossed his arms. "Boo," Ruffnut yelled before they started arguing.

Astrid rolled her eyes before turning, casually, to Heather. "So, what were you guys watching before I showed up?"

All sounds immediately ceased. She looked at the twins, who were currently tangled together in a wrestling move and staring at her with wide eyes. Then she turned to Fishlegs, who had happily been reading but was now as stiff as a board. Finally, she turned back to Heather, who was hastily eating her food.

She looked at them all, unimpressed. "What? What's wrong?" Heather tried saying something, but Astrid couldn't understand her with her mouth full. "What?"

Heather swallowed. "I'll show you the video."

"Don't do that," Ruff said.

"I don't want his beautiful face being ruined," Tuffnut agreed.

"Whose beautiful face," Astrid asked before looking at the video on Heather's phone. It was just a bunch of puppies playing with babies. "Aaaww, that is so cute!" She took the phone from Heather's hand. "Babies and puppies are the perfect combination!" Though she was distracted by cuteness at the moment, she could tell that this wasn'þ the video they had been watching. She would have to ask later. Unless she forgot. Watching these puppies lick babies' faces, that probably wouldn't be a problem. She handed the phone back before realizing a certain someone wasn't here trying to flirt with her. "Where's Snotlout?" He had been boldly trying to flirt with her all through sixth period yesterday.

"He's with Hiccup in the art room," Fishlegs answered, while showing Heather something in his book.

Heather gave him a look. "Then what are we doing here?"

"Yeah," Tuff agreed as Heather started getting her things.

"He said he wanted to be alone," he explained.

"Oh," Heather said, sitting back down. "That bad?"

"I don't get it," Astrid said. "Whatta you mean 'that bad'?"

* * *

Snotlout sighed before entering the Art Room. He looked at his cousin, who sat there with earphones in his ears, his pencil not moving as it touched the paper. Hiccup was innocent. Well, he looked innocent. When he looked at Hiccup, he saw someone who needed help, someone he wanted to protect. Which would always baffle him because only a few years ago, he wished he would just drop dead. But he knew Hiccup didn't need protection, he didn't need a savior. It helped to have someone by his side though. So he plopped himself right next to him and plucked out an earphone. "How's your day been, …"

Hiccup only glanced at him before looking back at the empty paper.

"I saw the video," Snotlout admitted. "Really good left hook you got there. I remember feeling that," he laughed as he touched his jaw. "The entire school saw it! Actually, the entire school is watching the video too."

"Yeah, this, this is really helping," Hiccup told him in a way that meant he wasn't helping at all.

"Great," he said with huge smile. "I'll keep going." His smile only widened when he glared at him. "You know I annoy you on purpose, right?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes before turning back to the empty page. "It works."

Snotlout's huge grins shrinked into a small smile. "Yeah, but seriously. How you holding up?"

"Oh, I'm doing fine," he answered, his voice leaking with sarcasm. "Punched a reporter in the face, but hey! Whatta you gonna do?"

"At least no one's going to call her that again."

"Yeah, I guess that's good."

"Like seriously. I saw people about to call her that, but then think better of it."

"I'm not a scary person."

"You are when you're angry."

Hiccup sighed. "I don't want to be a angry person."

Snotlout nodded. "Then why are you angry? You seemed perfectly fine when you woke us up with a Dragon Attack."

"And you screamed like a little girl."

"I have a very manly scream," he defended. "But, seriously. What's wrong?"

Hiccup didn't say a word as he opened his phone and showed him the texts. "Whoa," Snotlout commented while reading them. "Ok, wow... Well, damn... What in Helheim does that mean?...Whoa, ok…" He took a deep breath after he finished reading them and handed HIccup back his phone. "Has he tried calling you yet?" Hiccup merely clicked something on his phone before handing it back to him and showing the countless missed calls.

"He kept calling even after I sent him to voicemail so I had to turn it off. He stopped. I think he knows I turned it off."

Snotlout nodded before handing back the phone. "You gonna be staying at the Ingerman's tonight too?"

"Yeah. I...hate to leave Heather alone, though." Hiccup finally put down the pencil and turned to him with pleading eyes. "Could you go check on her every now and then?" He would do it himself, but he didn't want to risk seeing his dad.

"Sure, man." He suddenly clasped his hands together, a new plan forming in his mind. "Better yet, I'll tell Fishlegs to do it."

"Oh, yes. The two of them. Alone. That's a great idea, Snotlout." They both laughed.

"I bet they won't get married until their forty."

"And they'll still be in the holding hands stage like sixth graders!"

"They'll have children in their nineties!"

They laughed until they were dying for air, and even then they would still let out a random chuckle. Silence fell between them soon enough.

"Are you coming back to the Ingerman's tonight?"

"No," Snotlout admitted. "I have a charity event to go to."

"Oh, which one?"

"The one on Honors Road today."

"Oh, yeah. You announced that during Homecoming."

Snotlout gave him a scrutinizing look. "Are you secretly coming to the games?"

"No," he chuckled. "I saw it on the school website."

"Oh, ok. But, you're coming to the next one. You know that right?"

"Yes I know." He started packing his stuff. "Any more charity events this month?"

"No, not until Snog- I mean, Christmas," he revised, remembering that people didn't really celebrate his holiday. "I'm going to save up and get some presents for the children's hospital."

"Save some money for Secret Odin," Hiccup joked.

"You know I will," he laughed while punching him. "Who do ya think you'll get this year?"

"Hopefully Fishlegs." Snotlout made an offended noise. Hiccup chuckled. "I know what he wants! Leave me alone!"

"What does he want?"

"I'm not telling you, just in case you get him. You have to find out yourself."

"I hate you."

"No you don't." He gave him a smile.

"No, I don't," he agreed, smiling back. "If I do get him, though, I swear I'm coming for you."

"Yeah, I don't doubt that."

They both let out a laugh. "So, what are you so busy with tomorrow that you can't come to the pinpoints?"

"I have plans," he answered curtly. "I'd like it to be a secret. For now, anyway. I'll tell you when it works."

"When what works?!" It still wasn't making any sense to him. What the heck was Hiccup up to?

"The plan." He gave him a smile that said that was all he was going to get.

Snotlout glared at him. "Fine, fine, tell me when you're ready. I can wait! I have patience!"

"Do you, though," Hiccup mocked, about to laugh.

"Yes! I do!... Why can't you just tell me?!"

Hiccup snorted. "I will! Once it works."

"You're no fun!"

Hiccup only chuckled and looked back at the empty paper. He wasn't really feeling the art inspiration today. He probably wouldn't for a while, so he closed the sketchbook and shoved it in his satchel. Throwing the strap over his shoulder, he stood up. "You willing to skip third period to go to get Ice Cream?"

Snotlout glared at him. "And everyone thinks I'm the bad influence."

Hiccup chuckled. "You coming or what?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

* * *

 **LOOK WHO'S BACK! Oh, that's right! ME! Anyway, writing Snot's and Hicc's relationship is great. I write it in a way where the rivalry made their relationship stronger and not strained. The next chapter is going to focus a little more on Hiccup's little secret, so stay tuned. Also, a special guest from the fourth chapter! See you guys soon.**


	9. Chapter 9

"You think this is the place?"

Astrid rolled her eyes at Tuff's stupid question. "It's the only one that says Draco's on it." A bell chimed as they all entered in. For Astrid, seeing all the beautiful colors was amazing and soothing at the same time. Everything was sort of like a metallic rainbow. Or like iridescent dragon scales.

"Hey, guys!" Her head snapped away from all the beautiful colors to see Snotlout with Heather and Fishlegs sitting at a booth. The twins rushed to them in a second, leaving Astrid to follow after them.

Tuff didn't waste any second wasting his time and asked the only question that had been on his mind walking over here. "So, did Hiccup change his mind?!"

Astrid, Fishlegs, and Heather gave him a weird look while Ruffnut looked at the menu and Snotlout answered his question. "Nope, he's still gonna be busy today. He's gonna meet up here in a minute, though. We're switching rides."

"What does that mean," Ruff asked.

"He doesn't like it when reporters follow him," Fishlegs explained. "So, I'm lending him my van and he's lending me his bike."

"Can you even ride it," Astrid asked.

"No, I can't. I'm just gonna give it to Draco to keep it in the back."

"He's the owner of this place," Heather explained to their confused faces. "His name actually is Draco."

"Where'd he get a name like that?"

"I think his real name is Djimon," Snotlout said. "Draco's just a nickname."

They all turned to the door, unbidden, when the bell jingled. Most were glad they did since it was Hiccup who entered.

"Sup, Hiccup," Tuff greeted, overly excited.

Hiccup gave him a smile. "Sup, Tuff." He turned to Fishlegs, handing him his helmet and keys. "I am begging you. Take good care of him."

"You're giving it to me, Hiccup. Not Snotlout," he reminded.

Hiccup laughed causing Snotlout to glare at them. "Screw both of you."

Hiccup shook his head with a smile. "Let me guess, you're getting Monstrous Mint Chocolate Chip?"

"You know it!"

"Razorwhip Raspberry," Heather added hers.

"I think I wanna try Snow Wraith Strawberry," Ruff decided to herself.

Astrid watched as the three sitting in front of her froze.

"That's a terrible flavor," Snotlout hastily said.

"I agree," Heather all but yelled.

"The worst," Fishlegs agreed.

She watched as Hiccup rolled his eyes. "You guys, she can get that flavor if she wants to."

"B-but-"

"I'm over it," he interrupted what Fishlegs was going to say.

"As you should be," Snotlout encouraged. "Jack was-"

"Don't," Hiccup yelled, holding a finger up and shaking his head. "Just don't."

"Who's Jack," Tuff asked, confused.

Hiccup shook his head faster. "Terrible memories. Would love to forget if it's all the same to you." He turned to Snotlout, changing the subject. "So, what's the pinpoint for today."

"I was thinking of taking them to Dragon's Edge after this," Fishlegs explained.

Hiccup's eyes went wide. "No!" he calmed his expression down. "I'm working on a project there, I don't want anything happening to it. _Snotlout_."

"I'm not gonna touch anything!"

"You always say that," he reminded. "So, until further notice, the Edge is off limits."

"Why do they have to listen to you?"

The three boys turned to Astrid. Snotlout and Fishlegs had never questioned it when Hiccup wanted to Edge to himself every now and then since it had always been his special place even before he had known Fishlegs or made peace with Snotlout. So her question made them feel a bit uncomfortable. Hiccup, on the other hand, was fuming. "Because, technically, the Edge is mine." His mother had built it on a bit of property that belonged to them. It was where he usually went after the divorce. It was his special place. She didn't get to come here and talk about things she didn't know. He turned away from her. What on earth was her problem? "And no one is allowed near it until further notice. Kapeesh."

"Kapeesh," his friends said.

"Good." He smiled at Fishlegs. "Your van is in good hands."

"Oh, I know it is," he handed him his keys. "It's not like I gave them to Snotlout."

"Screw both of you!"

Hiccup laughed as he took the keys. "If the project goes well, I'll see if I can catch up with you guys later." He smiled at them all. "Bye!"

Astrid watched with a glare as he left before turning to Snotlout. "What did he mean that it was technically his?"

"What," Snotlout asked, looking up from the menu.

"His mom built it for him," Heather answered, rolling her eyes. "It used to be where he went to be alone when he was little."

"Then he started bringing us along," Fishlegs added.

"Once he had to bring me when he didn't want to. It was so boring."

"Then why did you want to go there," Ruff asked.

"Because now he wants me to be there and I'm able to touch stuff without getting in trouble."

"He constantly kicks you out," Fishlegs reminded with a deadpan expression.

"Only when I touch something important."

"What does he do there," Tuff asked, completely interested.

Astrid wondered why he cared so much. She looked to Ruff who didn't seem as suspicious as her. Were they in this together? Was Tuff getting information for Ruff? These little shits.

"He works on projects," Heather answered. "Art or engineering, you can never tell which ones."

"I think it's engineering," Fishlegs said.

"Yeah," Snotlout agreed. "He bought a new shipment of rocks."

"What do rocks have to do with engineering," Ruff asked.

"He creates his own iron," Snotlout explained. "Calls it Gronckle Iron. It's actually pretty sturdy."

"He made me a figurine of what a Razorwhip would actually look like," Heather told. "Windsheer has knocked it over countless times and it still hasn't gained a scratch."

Astrid furrowed her brow. "Windsheer?"

"Oh! She's my African Gray. She's a real darling." Heather waved a hand. "She's around here somewhere."

"You allow the thing to just walk around here," Ruff asked, confused.

"You guys know an African Gray is a bird, right?"

"Oh," The twins went, finally understanding.

"Yeah, she's probably saying hi to Erin."

Snotlout laughed at Fishlegs' face. "Whattsa matter, Fishface? Jealous?!"

"I am not jealous," he yelled, indignantly. Heather chuckled.

The twins perked up. "You know what they say about jealousy-"

"Yes, yes," Astrid interrupted, having hearing this far too many times for her liking. "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy," she recited with exaggeration. "It is the green-eyed monster-"

"Which doth mock the meat it feeds on," someone interrupted. Astrid looked up to find a tall guy with dark brown hair in a low ponytail and beefy arms covered in scars and tattoos. He wasn't someone you would find at an Ice Cream shop. And looking at his bright colored shirt, he wasn't someone you would find working at an Ice Cream Shop. "Othello, right?"

Was he asking her? She didn't know any of that. Her face had, unbeknownst to her, gone red. "Oh, you think-"

"Who might you be," Ruff asked, her smile ear to ear. Big, strong, apparently liked some Shakespeare. 'Me likey,' she thought.

Astrid couldn't take her eyes off the guy. He was… He wasn't someone she was usually attracted to. Mostly book smart people, those who looked like they had their head together and it didn't hurt if they looked handsome. But this guy, he was...Thor himself! She couldn't help but ogle him a bit longer before she realized she had been staring at him too long. She almost missed his name.

"I'm Erin. But these idiots like to call me Eret," he laughed pointing at the trio.

Heather rolled her eyes. "Where's my bird?"

Eret chuckled. "She's in the back talking Draco's ear off. You should be careful with Windsheer," he warned. "Draco's taken a liking to her."

Heather shook her head. "Windsheer will always love me more." She pointed a finger at him. "And you can tell Draco I said that."

Eret chuckled before turning to the other three. "And who might these people be," he said, smiling directly at Astrid.

She felt a turn in her stomach and was about to stutter out her name before Ruff beat her to it. She stood up and held out a hand. "Well," Ruff started. "I happen to go by 'the girl of your dreams', just so you know."

Astrid could see that he looked a bit uncomfortable. She couldn't blame him, Ruff always came on too strong. She was grateful when Tuff pulled her down in her seat again and introduced himself. "Her name is Shirley," he answered, causing her to smack the back of his head.

"People call me Ruff," she informed hastily.

Eret nodded, a bit terrified. "I can see why." He finally turned back to Astrid with those beautiful hazel eyes and almost shy smile. "And you?"

"I'm Astrid," she drawled out with ease. That would probably be the only thing she would be able to get out to him for the day.

He nodded at the name. "That's a beautiful name."

"Thanks," she said, feeling something weird. Was this...was this giddiness. She felt like laughing out loud all because he had complimented her name. She paid no mind to anyone else as they continued to look in each other's eyes.

"-the usual."

They both snapped their heads to Snotlout. "What," Eret asked.

"I'll have my usual," he repeated, confused.

"Us too," Heather and Fishlegs said in unison.

"And you guys," he said to the other trio.

"Are you on the menu," Ruff asked, unknowingly creeping him out even more.

Tuff rolled his eyes. "She'll have the Zippleback Blueberry." Eret scribbled it down. "And I'll get Nightfury Fudge."

Ruff turned to him, not believing what she was hearing. "You hate chocolate."

"I do not!"

"Whatever," she muttered. She turned to Astrid, hoping to get someone by her side.

Though Astrid did find it pretty weird that he was getting something chocolate even though he hated the stuff, she shrugged. "Let him learn his lesson." She looked at the menu, trying to avoid eye contact with Ruff and Eret. "I'll have the Deadly Nadder Durian."

"All right," he said, jotting it down. "I'll be back with your orders in a few."

"Don't take too long!" Ruff smiled after him before turning to Astrid with a huge smile. "Dibs!"

"Fuck," Astrid muttered as Heather teased, "I think he likes you."

"Well of course he does," Ruff answered to that. "I mean, look at me." She posed for a second.

"I was talking...to…" Heather watched at Astrid shook her head. Heather nodded. She saw what was going on here.

They all listened to Ruffnut as she went on and talked about the 'man of her dreams'.

* * *

Hiccup made it to the Edge without a problem. He stepped over the tripwire he had in case anyone came upon his little clubhouse. He had recently put it up ever since he had started his "project". Only three people knew about the tripwire, including him. He hoped the other two were already in the clubhouse.

Though this shack was was all wood and nails, he had recently added an intercom, so that who was ever inside knew whether or not to answer the door. It was a little something he had thought up himself, with the help of some muscle that should be inside already. When he walked in, he had proven himself to be correct. A red headed man covered in scars stood there, messing with a knife as he stared too hard at some blueprints. He looked to Hiccup and smiled. "Ah, little brother! You're here!"

"Hey, Dagur," he said, awkwardly, still not used to being called that. "How long have you been waiting?"

"Oh, you know," he waved it off, still not giving him an answer.

"I-I actually don't."

"It doesn't matter, little brother," he exclaimed, joyously. "All that matters is that we're both here now!" He suddenly scowled. "That blonde witch isn't coming, is she?"

"You know she is, Dagur," he sighed. "You two really need to stop fighting if we're going to get this done."

"Tell her that hope isn't a strategy."

Hiccup visibly tensed when he heard the door unlock and open. In came a pixie-haired blonde that was fuming. Mala Queen slammed the door before glaring at Hiccup.

"Uh, hi," he said, nervously.

"How long had he been planning it?!"

"Who stuck a stick up your ass so early in the morning," Dagur quipped, causing Mala to throw one of Hiccup's tools at his head.

"Stay out of this you idiot." She turned to Hiccup. "I hope you have an explanation for me."

"There we go with the hope," Dagur drawled out, recovering quickly. "Hope doesn't help at all, Mala."

Mala chose to ignore him this time. "How long had he been planning on breaking up with me?!"

Hiccup stuttered. "W-well, you see, M-Mala. I'm kind of afraid to answer that."

She took a step forward and crossed her arms. "Why?"

Hiccup took a step back. "B-b-because you might n-not like the answer."

She gave him a look. The look wasn't angry or full of rage, it was just tired. "How long?"

Hiccup gulped. "S-since sophomore year."

Mala sighed before sinking into Hiccup's swivel chair. "I guess it was inevitable."

"Yeah, no kidding," Dagur laughed. "Who would want to be with you?"

"Dagur, not now," Hiccup hissed. Dagur shut his trap and Hiccup turned back to Mala. "It's not the end of the world, Mala. You'll find someone else!"

Mala looked at him. "Have you?"

Hiccup forced a smile. "You know that was in the past."

"But he hurt you." She looked away from him. "I'm hurt now," she said, barely above a whisper. Not that Snotlout was a bad boyfriend. But she had thought they were in perfect bliss all the while he was planning how to break up with her. For an entire year. She started fixing the stacks of paper on the desk, giving her hands something to do. "Dagur," she said, her voice cracking a bit.

Hiccup watched as Dagur's stone expression turned to one of surprise, not expecting for Mala to acknowledge him let alone cry while doing it. He took a glance at Hiccup before bringing his eyes back to her. "Uh, yeah?"

She turned to swivel chair towards him. Her eyes might have been shinier than usual, but not a single tear fell. "Do you got anything for us?"

He looked between the two. His eyes landed on Hiccup. "Not that much. All I have is a date. Viggo wasn't able to get much with Krogan there."

Hiccup nodded. "What's the date."

"November twelfth. I don't know what they're bringing or where they're meeting. Neither does Viggo."

Hiccup slammed his fist on the table. "I need to know these things if I'm ever gonna stop them."

"If we're going to stop them," Mala corrected.

"Krogan has more information than Viggo. The man in charge trusts him more."

Hiccup groaned. "If only we could find out who the man in charge is."

"And another thing," Dagur added. "I heard the name Yo-honn a few times."

Hiccup's head snapped up. "Johann?"

"Yeah. He could possibly be the man in charge. I heard Krogan and Viggo mention his name a few times."

"Why wouldn't Viggo tell you directly?"

"He couldn't. He didn't tell me the date directly either. It was in the pass by of talking with Krogan with me by his side."

Hiccup shook his head. Johann? He had heard that name before. And image popped in his head of a scraggly man with a weird beard and mustache bearing a twisted smile. No, no, that man was from his dreams. But so was Viggo. Maybe Fishlegs and Snotlout were on to something when they told him his dreams come to life. He shook the thought out of his head and turned to Mala, who was already typing the name down. "No," he yelled. "Don't look up his name. They could track down whoever's looking it up. We can't let them know that we know a name, that anyone knows that name." He started snapping his fingers, thinking. In his dreams, the man, Johann, was a trader to all the Archipelago. If Hiccup was correct, almost everyone in his life had the same personality as in his dreams. Almost everyone. He looked back to Mala. "I need you to look up the biggest trading deals with Africa."

"What on earth for?!"

"Just do it!" And she did. "Go to images." She didn't question him. "Keep scrolling...There! Click on that one!" He pointed to the screen, accidentally clicking it himself. He always forgot Mala's computer was touch screen. The image showed an african man with a goatee and a scar over his right eye. Krogan. Behind him was a well groomed man wearing some slacks and a matching plaid shirt. He was less oily and a lot more kempt, but it was no doubt the man from his nightmares. He clicked the link to it. "Trader Jonathan's." Trader Johann. "That's Johann."

"What," the blonde and the redhead yelled in unison.

"That's Johann," he repeated, pointing to guy behind Krogan.

"How on earth do you know that?!" Mala was looking at him, incredulously.

"I just...have a feeling."

Mala shook her head. "I don't usually agree with Dagur on things. A lot of things actually," she added, causing him to glare at her. "But a feeling isn't an excuse to accuse an innocent man."

"Mala, just trust m-"

"Trader Johnathan donates thousands to sanctuaries for many endangered species, Hiccup!" Mala scrolled through the website some more. "And he has the biggest trading deal with America. Why would he want to be in the black market?"

Hiccup shook his head. "I don't know. B-but I just know that that's Johann. I can't explain it, but I know that it's him!"

Dagur looked at the screen. "I hate agreeing with Mala, I really do." She glared at him. "But we need proof, little brother. You can't just say he's Johann."

"Krogan is standing right in front of him," he tried to reason.

"I have a lot of shit on Krogan," Dagur said. "That's just his nickname. His real name is Hakeem. He works as a head of the trading port here. On paper, or the internet, anyway, Trader Johnathan sounds like an ok guy. I doubt he's partnered with Krogan. He probably has no idea who Krogan really is."

"But what if he does? What if it's all just a ruse to gain more money? What if he just makes himself look good but he's actually just throwing everyone off who's trying to stop this smuggling problem?!"

"Hiccup, it's not that simple," Mala said.

"A bunch of 'what if's aren't going to be good enough for the authorities."

Hiccup turned to him. "The authorities can't get involved," he reminded. "Not with the bounty on your head."

"What if it's something we can't handle," Mala asked.

It was a reasonable question, but everything was just making him frustrated. "We can handle it!" She gave him a look. He sighed. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry I yelled. But we can handle it. If you guys want the authorities involved, once we get more information, we can leave an anonymous tip. Happy?"

"Very much so," Mala nodded.

"Yeah, sure," Dagur answered.

"Good." He turned back to the computer. "Dagur, you think you and Viggo could get information in the near future?"

"We can try. It's not gonna be easy, though. This Johann guy trusts Krogan more than Viggo."

Hiccup nodded. It was the same way in his dreams. "Ok, I didn't realize this meeting was going to be so short. Does Viggo have any way to contact me?" Dagur took out a small, black phone. A disposable phone. _Great_ , he thought. _That's not going to be suspicious at all_.

"He said he'd call you on this phone when he found anything else. And you were right when you said this meeting was short. I actually have to get back to work."

Hiccup nodded. "Don't forget your jacket."

He didn't and left without another word.

Mala glared at the door before turning back to Hiccup. "Are you sure he didn't kill his father? He seems the type."

"Mala," he warned.

She held up her hands in surrender. "Just kidding! But I'm being serious, Hiccup. We do have to get the authorities involved. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Or Dagur," he added.

"Sure," she responded with no real emotion. "But I'm being serious," she repeated. "I don't want a repeat of the Rare Albino Bat."

Yeah, that one had been very chaotic. He had busted a group of smugglers who had come from the north with the rare albino bat. Albino bats were rare, but one with blue eyes was even rarer. He had busted it a little too late, though, for they had already had the cage open. Now they had a rare albino bat flying around Berlood. Sometimes he would even see it outside his window. He had no clue how it managed to survive. "I had it covered."

"You almost got caught," she all but yelled. "We can't have anyone knowing that you are a part of this. That any one of us is a part of this. Authorities will tell us to shut it down and we'll have many enemies." She looked him in the eye. "You need to tell me all the information Viggo tells you. I will not be left in the dark!"

Hiccup sighed. She was right. She was as big a part of this team as any of them were and she deserved to know everything too, not just He and Dagur. "Alright, I promise, from now on, I'll tell you everything."

She smiled at him, satisfied with the answer. "Good. Now, down to a different business. Do you know anyone who's single?"

"What?!"

"Your cousin broke my heart," she reminded. "It's only fair that you find me someone to date."

"Date Throk!" He was not doing this!

"He's like a brother to me, it would be weird." She thought about it. "Let's go to my house and bring out the yearbook! I'm sure there are many bachelors in this school."

"Mala, maybe you should try just being single for a while. It's what I've been doing."

Mala looked horrified. "We're getting the yearbook out."

He rolled his eyes as Mala dragged him out of the edge.

* * *

 **I'M BACK! Thank you all for the reviews even though it seemed like I was never coming back! I love you all! The next chapter isn't coming any time soon, but, hey! Neither is HTTYD 3! LOL. I'm sorry. I'm also sorry you'll have to suffer through some Eretstrid, what ever that ship is called. It's for the greater good. Though Hiccup does like Astrid, despite her noticeable hatred for him, he still has someone else on his mind! Until next chapter! Love you all!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Look who's baaaack! After six months I believe. I told myself I would wait until HTTYD 3 came out to finish this story just in case I needed to change a few things. Turns out I don't need to change much. But, anyway, I just wanna say to those who are still reading this, thank you so much. I really do hope to finish this story, and with your support, I hope I'll have the motivation to. I'd like to thank _aaquater_ for commenting on almost every chapter, you're the real MVP! And a warning for those who don't like it, Eretstrid will be blossoming. It's a plot device for Ruffnut's character development. Don't worry, it's only until snoggletog and I'll do my best to get there quickly. I do not appreciate death threats over a ship though, so if this isn't your thing, go read another Hiccstrid slowburn and leave my story alone. I hope those who are still gonna stay and read enjoy this chapter. I love you all!**

* * *

She was on cloud nine. She had met the most handsome man in the world and she was in love! Nothing could ruin this!

"So, Astrid, what's your favorite subject in school?"

Except for the fact that he wasn't even looking at her. When she had asked if he wanted to sit with them for a while, she had expected for him to talk to her, not to Astrid. Ruff turned to Astrid, who was sporting the tiniest hint of a blush.

"Oh, you know," she started. "I'm kind of into my government class. I like hearing about politics."

"My favorite is wrestling," Ruff announced. But he was still talking to Astrid. Damn! She should've let Tuff have the window seat!

"What about you, are you in school," Astrid asked.

"I actually dropped out two years ago," Eret explained. "I was seventeen, making bad choices. It wasn't until Draco took me in that I started getting better. I'm taking night classes now so I can work here in the mornings."

Astrid, to Ruff's surprise, smiled. Astrid wasn't supposed to like bad-boy-dropouts! That was Ruff's thing!

"You don't have to answer this, but what made you start making bad choices?"

He leaned towards her just the tiniest bit and Ruff had enough. "Hey, Snotlout!" She yelled, interrupting what Eret was going to say. "Isn't it about time for you to take us to that pinpoint?"

He stopped his conversation with Heather and turned to her with a smile. "Yes! We should totally start heading over!"

"Oh, mighty Thor, you guys are gonna love this," Heather exclaimed.

"It's gonna be so fun!" Fishlegs agreed.

"What is it," Tuff asked, pushing away his barely touched ice cream.

"You'll see when we get there," Snotlout laughed.

They all looked to Heather as she whistled and a giant grey bird came flying from the kitchen doors and landed on her shoulder. Eret pet him with a finger before turning to Astrid.

"It was nice meeting you Astrid. Hopefully I'll see you again soon."

Astrid nodded with a smile. "Hopefully."

Ruffnut stepped in between them and hastily shoved a piece of paper containing her number on it. "Call me," She exclaimed before dragging Astrid away. The face he had made wasn't promising, but, whatever, he would come around and see that she was twice the woman Astrid was.

"Alright, everyone to my car," Snotlout announced once they were all outside. They all started heading towards the parking lot.

"Eret was nice," Ruff commented to Astrid.

She had the tiniest ghost of a smile. "Yeah, he was."

"And he was so dreamy, with his muscles and tattoos."

"If you're into that."

"Oh! I am!" She turned to Astrid with piercing eyes. "Are you?"

Astrid sighed. "No. I'm not. I can't be. You called dibs."

Ruff smiled before bringing Astrid into a hug. "You're the best!" She broke the hug and started running forward. "I call shotgun!"

Astrid sighed as she watched her go. She didn't mind it when Ruff would call dibs on a guy that was interested in her. Usually because she wasn't interested in them. But there were times when she did mind. She was interested in Eret. She could see herself with him. But Ruff was her best friend. And she had called dibs.

"Hey," Heather said, coming up behind her. "You and Eret seemed to be hitting it off."

"Squawk! Hitting it off!" Windsheer repeated.

Astrid chuckled a bit. "Yeah, we did."

Heather smiled. "Why don't you go for it?"

"I-I can't." She looked ahead to see Ruffnut push her brother to the floor in an attempt to get the front seat. She sighed. "Girl code."

Heather looked forward and shook her head. "But he's not even interested in her."

"She's my best friend," Astrid rushed to defend. "He'd be lucky to go out with her."

"And what about you?"

"Squawk! What about you!"

Astrid shrugged. "He wasn't that cute." She knew Heather could tell she was lying, but that didn't matter. Her feelings didn't matter. She walked faster and spoke to Snotlout, changing the subject. "I figured you'd have, like, a sports car or something." Instead, she was staring and a red SUV.

Snotlout laughed. "We all wouldn't be able to fit in a sports car, now would we?" He opened the driver's door. "Now get in!"

After they were all buckled in, Snotlout started their drive. "Alright, I hope you all have bathing suits!" He pressed on the gas pedal.

"Wait, what!" the trio yelled.

"You didn't say to bring bathing suits," Astrid yelled.

"It's California," he laughed. "What did you expect for a cliff?"

"I don't know, a view!"

"Don't worry," Heather assured. "I brought us shorts and t-shirts. We have sort of the same build." She nudged her in the arm with a smile.

"What about Ruff?"

Ruffnut waved it off. "I'll just swim in my undies."

"Ew," Tuff gagged. "Nobody wants to see that! Looking at you _in your clothes_ triggers my gag reflex!"

"Shut up, idiot!"

"Not a chance, ugly!"

"You take that back, baby brother," she yelled, turning around in her seat to try and hit him.

Tuffnut gasped dramatically as he tried to dodge her hits. "You're only older by eleven minutes!"

"Hey," Snotlout yelled. "Sit back! You're gonna get us pulled over!"

It was to no avail as the twins continued to fight.

"Ruff, sit down," Astrid ordered.

"Fine," she groaned and she turned back to her seat.

"And put your seat-belt on!" Snotlout added.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes as she did. "So this cliff? Is it too high to jump off of?"

"Nope," Heather exclaimed enthusiastically. "It's the funnest thing in the universe jumping from it. We do it all the time when the weather's nice."

"Now, it's the edge that's way too high," Fishlegs informed. "If you jumped from there, hitting the water would feel like hitting cement."

"Squawk! Cement!"

Ruffnut narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular. "I've heard that somewhere before."

"Stranger Things," Snotlout, Heather, and Fishlegs said in unison.

"That was a good show," Astrid nodded.

"Right! Elle was my favorite character," Heather said.

"Mine too. Imagine being able to do shit with your mind," Ruff exclaimed happily.

The car was filled with mindless small talk until, finally, Snotlout yelled, "We're here!" Astrid looked out the window to see a small clearing near trees with blocks of wood to indicate parking spaces. It was empty at the moment. Snotlout parked next to one and they all got out. "This way!" They followed him up a path that lead to another small clearing.

While Snotlout and the others started to get ready for a swim, Astrid made her way to the edge of the cliff. There she could see the clear, blue waters lit up by the midday sun. Heather was right about the cliff not being too high. There was even a spot where it looked easy to climb back up from. She closed her eyes and let the ocean breeze flow over her. All her life, living in New York, she never got to do things like this. Especially in the area they lived in. But a part of her always yearned for something like this. She didn't know why, but this feeling felt very familiar. Like she'd been somewhere like this before.

"Beautiful isn't it," Heather's voice broke through her thoughts.

Astrid turned to her as she let Windsheer fly off somewhere. "It is. It feels calming."

"Yeah, that's why we like it here." She handed her some shorts. "If either are too big or something, I have hair ties to make them smaller. Let's go!" She grabbed her arm and lead her behind some trees, where they got changed.

"Cannonball," Tuffnut and Snotlout yelled when both girls emerged. Astrid watched as they both started running towards the edge.

"Bet," Ruffnut yelled in delight before stripping her shirt and revealing a white bra with brown polka dots.

Astrid and Heather laughed as they watched Snotlout become momentarily distracted and trip and fall into the water while Tuffnut landed a perfect cannonball.

Ruffnut stripped her pants off before running towards the edge herself. "Cannonball," she bellowed as she plunged into the water. She emerged with the grace of both a mermaid and a witch. "Ugh! I love the ocean! Astrid come down here!"

Heather turned to her. "You coming?"

She shook her head. "Nah. I'll go in later. I just wanna enjoy the view for a while."

"Suit yourself," she smiled before turning to Fishlegs. "Last one in the water has to cite the entire alphabet of scientific fish names!"

"Wha-" She was already running towards the edge. "Hey! No fair! I'm all the way over here!" Fishlegs started running even though there was no possible way for him to win.

Astrid once again made her way to the edge and sat down, letting her legs dangle. She watched as Ruffnut tried to drown Tuffnut and as Snotlout started a splash war. Berlood didn't seem so bad. Her mom was getting the help she needed, she was living with her best friends, and she had made three new ones. She guessed the only downside had to be…

She turned around as she heard footsteps approaching and dramatically rolled her eyes and turned away once she saw who it was.

"Um. Hi, Astrid."

"Henry," she spat as if his name were a curse. And, to her, it was.

"You're not gonna join the others in the water."

"I don't have to if I don't want to," she barked.

She heard a bit of shuffling before seeing out of the corner of her eye that he sat next to her. Really? He had nothing better to do? "It's beautiful, isn't it? I forgot how we found this spot, but we've been coming here ever since."

"Interesting." Not! Couldn't her let her sit in peace?

She noticed he shrugged. "I guess." He didn't say anything after that.

Good. She wanted her silence.

"I know you hate me." Great, he was talking again! "And I don't expect you to change your mind about me anytime soon. But, if it's any consolation, I'm gonna ask Ms. Gerund to take down the portrait on Monday."

Yeah, yea- Wait, what?! She turned to him surprised and mouth open to say something, but nothing came out. And before she could think of anything to say, the others had noticed his presence and started calling for him. She watched as he smiled and got up. He took a few steps back before running forward and jumping into the water with a graceful dive.

Ok. Ok! She could admit it. That was...a nice gesture…

No. No! It was an appropriate one! One he should've done the moment he met her. In fact, he shouldn't have made it in the first place. Doing something he was supposed to do didn't make him a better person in her eyes, it just made him average.

And with that conclusion, she got up and jumped into the water, joining in on the fun.

* * *

It had been a week since then and Astrid had yet to let go of her conclusion. Henry had yet to prove her wrong. Nothing he did sat right with her. How he acted so humble when it came to his peers. How he would barely spend time with the ones he called friends, instead choosing to stay in the Art room. How he let every girl who confessed to him down gently. How much Stormfly loved him. How he was obviously his teachers' favorite seeing as Coach Belch let him take a phone call whenever. The only thing that could possibly redeem him was that he was true to his word. When she had gotten into school on Monday, the painting was gone. But he had yet to apologize for making it in the first place. And until he did that, she wasn't going to warm up to him any time soon.

Ping!

She was startled from her thoughts by a notification. She looked at the homework she was supposed to be doing and found it blank. She really needed to put that Stalker out of her mind. She checked her phone. It was a facebook notification. When was the last time she had used facebook?

 **D-rangednGorgeous:** What are we gonna do this weekend, cause, I gotta say, this house is boring when my uncle's not here.

 **Valkyrie:** Who is this?

 **D-rangednGorgeous:** It's Heather.

Heather? Why was she texting her through facebook? They had each other's numbers. And what was with the nickname?

 **DropDeadHandsome:** Yea IDK i forgot 2 plan somthin sorry

 **Fishface:** Snotlout, could you please not text like that! It gives me a headache.

Oh, so that was Snotlout. Of course it was. Astrid rolled her eyes and went back to her homework. Another ding. And another. And another. She picked her phone up, exasperated.

 **DropDeadHandsome:** Noway fishface i do wat i want

 **DropDeadGorgeous:** We were supposed to do something this weekend?

 **ILoveChickens:** Uh, yea. Dont u remember? Thor your so stupid.

 **DropDeadGorgeous:** You're*

 **Valkyrie** : What it going on?!

 **Valkyrie:** is*

 **DropDeadGorgeous:** Oh, dear Astrid, don't you remember! I told you about the groupchat?

 **Valkyrie:** I don't remember that at all.

 **DropDeadGorgeous:** Well, I did. It's not my fault you ignore me.

 **DropDeadHandsome** : So i was thnkng wego tot he GH.

 **DropDeadGorgeous:** What's that?

 **FishFace:** The Great Hall. It's this awesome restaurant where they give you Viking Helmets and fur pelts to wear as you dine there.

 **DropDeadHandsome:** They feed you all kinds of meat and they serve beer!

 **Fishface:** Rootbeer for those underaged.

 **Valkyrie:** Wait, how much is it?

 **D-rangednGorgeous:** It really depends on what you order. They're a bit pricey, cause they raise their own animals and all that, but the amount of food you get is worth it.

 **ILoveChickens:** THAT SOUNDS AWESOME!

 **DropDeadGorgeous:** We are totally going!

 **Valkyrie:** Um. **_ILoveChickens_ _DropDeadGorgeous_** We can't go. We don't have the money.

 **ILoveChickens** : I ofishaly hate life

 **DropDeadGorgeous:** AW MAN! :C

 **DropDeadHandsome:** I'll pay for you guys.

Just as she started texting a rejection, her bedroom door flew open, startling both her and Stormfly in the process. Stormfly barked and she yelled, "What the helheim, Tuff!" She grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. "You can't just barge into my room!"

"We have to go!" He literally hopped onto her bed with her. "Nothing is better than free food!"

"We can't just leech off of our new 'rich' friends, Tuff. We're not that kind of people."

"Ok," Ruff said, standing at the door. "Maybe you're not, but we definitely are!" Ruffnut made her way to the bed too. "Besides, we were their friends before we knew they were rich! So it's ok!" Tuff nodded in agreement.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "C'mon guys, have a sense of morality. It was ok last Saturday because it was just ice cream. But that's not the case this time. Heather said they were pricey. Pricey to us is 7 dollars."

"But Snotlout said he'd pay!"

Astrid gave them a look. "We don't have the money. I'm pretty sure even with their new jobs, our moms can barely afford this rent."

They all jumped at the sound of their front door slamming closed. "Kids," Astrid heard her mother yell.

"Get over here," yelled her Auntie Thor.

They all looked at each other, confused, before heading towards the living room.

Astrid's eyes widened at the sight of it. "Mom, what the heck is all of this!" She stared at the bags of food and clothes and finally looked at her mom, who donned an outfit she had never seen before and some sunglasses that still had the pricetag. Her aunt was in a similar state.

"STUFF!" The twins yelled before digging through the bags their mom handed them.

Her mom was handing her her own bag. "Mom, what is this?"

Her mom smiled brightly. "We just got our first paychecks." That explained...nothing, actually.

"You didn't think to save it!"

"Astrid, honey, of course I did. None of this was that expensive and I wasted most of it on food for the month." She lifted her glasses to her head, showing her smiling eyes. "And I got you this." She handed her a bag of clothes and another one with two boxes inside.

"LAPTOPS!" The twins yelled. They both took out boxes showing yellowish, green laptops on the cover. Astrid took one of the boxes out of the bag and found a sky blue laptop for herself. "Mom...wha…"

"We got them at thrift stores, don't worry," she assured her. "We can finally get rid of that crappy white one."

Astrid looked at the new blue one. "I kinda liked the crappy white one."

"Oh, isn't this wonderful, sweetie!" Her mom obviously hadn't heard her. "We're finally in a good place!"

Astrid looked at her bruise on her eye was finally gone. So were the bags under her eyes. And her worried expressions. And it seemed like she was growing less grey hairs. So much change was happening. All good things, though. Astrid smiled. "Yeah, we are."

"Oh! Also!" Her mom started digging through her purse and pulled out a wallet she had never seen before. Then her mom opened it, pulled out a bill and handed it to her.

Astrid took it, unfolded it, and then tried handing it back. "Mom, no! I can't take this! We need to save this."

"A hundred dollars," The twins yelled in excitement.

Astrid looked to her mom with pleading eyes. The most her mom had ever given her for anything was seven dollars, and she had always expected change back. Astrid couldn't possibly take this. What would she even do with it.

"Astrid, sweetie," her mother cooed. "This is the first time ever I've been able to do this for you. Take it." She folded Astrid's hand around the dollar bill.

Astrid smiled at her mom. "Thank you."

"Oh, this is perfect," Ruff yelled. "Our friends just asked if we could go out to eat tomorrow!"

"Yeah," Tuffnut agreed. "And Astrid was like, ' _We can't afford it_ '!"

"And then our friend Snotlout offered to pay!"

"But we didn't take the offer because we have morals!"

Astrid shared a look of mirth with her mom as her Auntie Thor praised her children.

"So can we go," Tuff asked.

"Can we, can we, can we," Ruff repeated with excitement.

Her Auntie Thor shared a look with her mom before turning back to her kids. "I don't see why not!"

"Yes," the twins yelled before bashing their heads together. They both groaned in pain.

"Why do we keep doing that," Tuff asked.

"We really should stop," Ruff agreed.

Her Auntie Thor laughed. "Go on and finish the homework I know you both have. I want to see it finished before you even think about opening those computers." The twins groaned again.

"Go on you three," her mom ordered. "We'll be cooking dinner in the meantime."

"More like I'll be cooking dinner while you hand me the ingredients," her aunt laughed.

Her mom feigned innocence. "Is that not what I said?"

They all laughed before the three youths headed to their rooms. "Groupchat," Ruff said to her before following Tuff into their room.

Astrid rolled her eyes before entering her own room. She shooed Stormfly off her spot before sitting down and reaching for her already dinging phone.

 **DropDeadGorgeous:** No need, snotface, our moms just gave us 100$!

 **ILoveChickens:** EACH!

 **D-rangednGorgeous:** Seriously! That's cool!

 **Valkyrie:** Honestly, I was surprised. I still don't even know what my mom works as. All I know is that she took a job at my uncles company.

 **DropDeadHandsome:** then were all set!

 **DropDeadHandsome:** Hiccup are u in?

 **DropDeadHandsome: _NorseGod_** u in?

 **DropDeadHandsome: _NorseGod_** u in?

 **DropDeadHandsome: _NorseGod_** u in?

 **DropDeadHandsome:** i can keep goin man

 **NorseGod:** One, I need to remember to turn notifications off. Two, who the helheim changed my nickname. Three, Tough nut, I love your nickname. And for, no, I'm not in. I have plans.

 **ILoveChickens:** Tough nut?

 **NorseGod:** Sorry, I'm using microphone. My hands are busy.

 **DropDeadHandsome:** Cmon man u bailed last time

 **NorseGod:** I did not. Can you please change my nickname back. Was it you who changed it?

 **DropDeadHandsome:** im not changing anything til u agree to come with us

 **NorseGod:** I have plans at the shelter. I'm going to be there all afternoon.

 **DropDeadHandsome:** AGAIN?!

 **NorseGod:** Yes, again. Now, my nickname.

 **DropDeadHandsome:** no i'm being petty

 **NorseGod:** Do I have to do everything myself.

 _NorseGod_ changed nickname to _KingOfDragons_

 **KingOfDragons:** Be petty, then. I'll be helping cats give birth.

 _KingOfDragons_ is offline

 **DropDeadHandsome:** Whatevs

 **DropDeadHandsome:** so ur not gonna answer now

 **DropDeadHandsome:** wow

 _DropDeadHandsome_ is offline

 **DropDeadGorgeous:** Reading this was a religious experience.

 **ILoveChickens:** lol

 **D-rangednGorgeous:** Honestly, moooooood XD

 **Fishface:** Same

Astrid shook her head at the replies. She wasn't going to give one. She found it very rude of him to bail on someone who was supposedly his best friend.

"Rrrrwoof," Stormfly barked which Astrid took as an agreement. She scratched her behind the ear.

She took one last glance at the messages. With a shake of her head, she put her phone on silent and went back to her unfinished, not-even-started, homework.

* * *

 **And that's the chapter! Astrid still has a ways to go before warming up to Hiccup. Don't worry, it'll be satisfying to those who believe Astrid is in the wrong. I can't say when the next chapter will be out, due to work and my tiredness, but I'll try to get it out as soon as I can. ALSO! Tabby Cat. That's a hint for next chapter. Until then, I love you all!**


End file.
